Researchers have recently discovered a lipid found in avocados that attacks acute myeloid leukemia stem cells while leaving healthy cells alone.

Avocados have been always known for their delicious taste and are also a healthy form of fat. But now scientists claim that the fruit can be used to fight cancer.

The study revealed that fat from the creamy fruit called ‘avocation B’ can help combat acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), a rare but deadly form of the disease.

The research published in the journal Cancer Research showed that fat molecules from avocado tackle leukaemia stem cells, which are the root of the disease, as they grow into abnormal blood cells, Canadian researchers said.

According to a report, yesterday, in DailyMailOnline, worldwide, there are few drugs that tackle leukaemia stem cells.

The researchers hope to create an avocado-derived drug they say could one day significantly increase life expectancy and quality of life for AML patients.

AML is a devastating disease and proves fatal within five years for 90% of people over the age of 65.

As per experts, in a health person, stem cells in the bone marrow divide and grow to form fully developed mature red blood cells, platelets and white blood cells.

But in AML patients this process goes wrong. Rather than forming into healthy red blood cells, many abnormal leukaemia cells are made, they said.

Professor Paul Spagnuolo, from the University of Waterloo, said, “The stem cell is really the cell that drives the disease. The stem cell is largely responsible for the disease developing and it’s the reason why so many patients with leukaemia relapse”.

It will take some more years for the drug to get approved for use in cancer clinics, but Professor Spagnuolo is already performing experiments to prepare the drug for a Phase I clinical trial, said Professor Spangnuolo.