Recently, researchers from Canada and the United States discovered that among the many avocado benefits, there would also be one with a very special benefit for patients with leukemia, since the molecules derived from avocado would have curative properties in patients with this type of cancer.

Paul Spagnuolo, leader of the research, commented that they have been conducting nutraceutical studies to find foods that are beneficial in preventing and treating diseases, considering the avocado within the study because it is a fruit that has already been shown to have very nutritious properties.

The study done at the University of Waterloo, in Canada, found that avocados contain a lipid capable of fighting Acute Myeloid Leukemia, attacking the stem cells of the disease, and curiously there are not many pharmacological treatments that target this type of cells cancerous.

The compound they found, which they called “Avocado b”, targets the VLCAD enzyme, on which leukemic cells depend to survive. Therefore, preparing a drug with this compound from avocado would help increase the life expectancy and quality of life of patients, according to Spagnuolo who also states that "the cancer stem cell is the one that really drives the disease and the reason why the one that many patients relapse ”.

The team from the Department of Food Sciences at the University of Guelph has studied the behavior of this new drug at the molecular level, confirming that it targets only cancer stem cells without affecting the patient's healthy cells.

Scientists have already been conducting tests in patients with leukemia, identifying the most suitable for treatment according to an analysis of the VLCAD enzyme, which also allows measuring the activity of the drug, which in previous studies has already shown properties that fight obesity and obesity. type 2 diabetes.