CALIFORNIA AVOCADO ASSOCIATION 



63 



The main constituent of the foods mentioned is the carbohydrate, while 

 the main ingredient of the avocado is the oil. The maximum percentage of 

 carbohydrate in any of the foods in question, ready for consumption, does not 

 exceed 20 per cent while the minimum percentage of oil noted for the avocado 

 is 9 with a meiximum of 32. As the caloric value of fat is 2^ times that of 

 the carbohydrates it is very obvious that the caloric value of a unit weight of 

 the edible portion of the avocado is far greater than a corresponding weight of 

 any of the foods above discussed. 



This places the avocado, as previously stated, in a class by itself, and the 

 only food that it can be compared with in this respect is the olive, but, as is well 

 known, the olive requires processing before it is ready for consumption, which 

 is not necessary in the case of the avocado. 



In passing it may not be out of place to compare, as shown in the follow- 

 ing table, the fat percentages of the edible portion of ten varieties of the avocado 

 with ten varieties of the olive: 





Avocado, 





Olive, 





Edible Portion. 





Edible portion. 





Per cent. 





Per cent. 



Chappelow 



29.10 



Corregiolo 



27.68 



Blake 



25.50 



Nigerina 



26.16 



Puebla 



26.68 



Nevadillo Blanco 



22.92 



Sharpless 



24.23 



Mission 



22.51 



Northrup 



25.30 



Rubra 



22.01 



Lyon 



26.89 



Pendulina 



21.36 



Fuerte 



29.93 



Redding Picholine 



20.83 



Atlixico 



28.50 



Macrocarpa 



20.41 



Blakeman 



21.55 



Manzanillo 



19.73 



Miller 



25.50 



Columbella 



19.54 



The above figures indicate that the avocado ranks higher in fat oil than 

 the average, or commonly used, olive. 



Digestibility. Experiments carried on by the Nutrition Division of the 

 University of California have clearly proven that the avocado is very easily 

 digested by the human system and the digestion coefficient for the fat in this 

 fruit was found to be practically equal to that of butter fat. 



Caloric Value. The total food value is sometimes expressed in terms of 

 calories per pound. This method gives us the value of a food for fuel pur- 

 poses, so to speak. It is not always correct, however, to compare the food 

 values on the basis of calories alone because the real value of a food to the body 

 depends upon the purpose for which it is fed. For example, one pound of 

 sugar contains 1 820 calories ; one pound of meat, less than 1 000 ; yet one 

 would hardly say that one pound of sugar is equal to a pound of meat when the 

 question of growth is concerned. When, however, we are considering the 

 question of energy alone, then the case is different. The following table shows 

 the caloric value per pound and of the average helping for ten different varieties 

 of the avocado: 



