The “Educating health professionals on the nutrition and health benefits of avocados” project (AV20003) has been busy over the last six months improving the awareness, knowledge and attitude of health professionals regarding the nutrition and health benefits of avocado. The program is designed to encourage them to recommend avocados to their patients as part of a healthy and nutritious diet, and ultimately help increase Australian avocado consumption.

A core activity of the program is participation in health professional conferences. Australian Avocados held its third trade exhibit at the General Practice Conference and Exhibition (GPCE) held on 19-21 May 2023 in Sydney at the International Convention Centre. Australian Avocados showcased the new Avocado digital hub along with a raft of new educational and patient resources.

The conference was well represented with more than 800 general practitioners attending across the three-day meeting. Nearly 300 GPs signed up to digital e-newsletter, more than 3,000 hard copies of the new resources where distributed and more than 250 fresh Hass avocados were given away. The final conference will be on 8-9 September 2023 at the Lifestyle Medicine conference in Melbourne.

The second ‘farm to plate’ avocado farm tour also took place in Bundaberg, QLD, where a group of influential health professionals saw how modern farming delivers avocados fresh to our supermarkets. They learned how Aussie Avos are grown and saw some creative and innovative ways to use avocados in everyday meal preparation. Catch some inspiration and key insights in a video showing highlights of the day: Avocado farm tour video.

The remaining 2023 program will see Australian Avocados host two further ‘farm to plate’ tours with key health professionals as we continue to build awareness and knowledge of the health and nutrition benefits of avocados and grow greater recognition of their culinary uses.

Photos from the GPCE health professional conference:

Photos from the Avocado farm tour:

Contact:

For more information on the program please visit https://australianavocados.com.au/health-professional/ or contact Bite Communications Program Manager, Penny Eustace penny@bitecom.com.au.

Acknowledgement:
This project has been funded by Hort Innovation, using the avocado research and development levy and contributions from the Australian Government. Hort Innovation is the grower-owned, not-for-profit research and development corporation for Australian horticulture.

This article appears as part of the Guacamole Friday 23 June 2023 issue.