News in this week that eating avocado with food rich in pro Vitamin A (beta carotene being the most important) significantly increases your absorption of the vitamin.
Published in the Journal of Nutrition, the researchers hypothesized that eating foods rich in lipids such as avocado would enhance the conversion of beta carotene to Vitamin A. They recruited 24 healthy men and women for the study and they were split into 2 groups, half given beta carotene rich food without avocado and the other half with. Two weeks later the group given the beta carotene rich food without the avocado were this time given the avocado with it and vice versa.
They found that consuming the lipid rich food with the beta carotene increased absorption of beta carotene by 2.4 times in the first group and 6.6 times in the second. It also increased the conversion to Vitamin A by 4.6 times in the first group and 12.6 times in the second.
They recommend consuming a lipid rich food source with pro Vitamin A especially in areas with Vitamin A deficiency.
Click here to go to the publication on the Journal of Nutrition Website