Eating avocado as part of your daily diet can help improve gut health, a new study from University of Illinois shows. Avocados are a healthy food that’s high in dietary fiber and monounsaturated fat. However, it wasn’t clear how avocados influence the gut microbiota in the gastrointestinal tract or “gut”
“We know eating avocados helps you feel full and reduces blood cholesterol concentration, but we did not know how it influences the gut microbes, and the metabolites the microbes produce,” says Sharon Thompson, graduate student in the Division of Nutritional Sciences at U of I and lead author on the paper, published in the Journal of Nutrition.
The researchers found that individuals who ate avocado every day as part of a meal had a higher abundance of gut microbiota that break down fiber and create metabolites that encourage gut health. They also had higher microbial diversity compared to individuals who didn’t obtain the avocado foods in the study.
“Microbial metabolites are compounds the microbes produce that influence health,” Thompson says. “Avocado consumption reduced bile acids and increased short chain fatty acids. These changes correlate with beneficial health outcomes.”
The analysis comprised 163 adults between 25 and 45 years old with overweight or obesity – defined as a BMI of at least 25 kg/m2 – but healthy. They obtained one meal daily to eat as a replacement for either breakfast, lunch, or dinner. One group consumed an avocado with every meal while the control group consumed a meal that was similar but without the avocado. The participants provided blood, urine, and fecal samples during the 12-week study. They also reported how much of the provided meals they have, and each four weeks recorded everything they ate.
While other studies on avocado consumption has concentrated on weight loss, participants in this study were not advised to limit or alter everything they ate. Instead they consumed their regular diets with the exception of substituting one meal daily with the meal that the researchers supplied.
The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of avocado consumption on the gut microbiota, states Hannah Holscher, assistant professor of nutrition in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition at U of I and senior author of the study.
“Our goal was to test the hypothesis that the fats and the fiber in Avocados positively alter the gut microbiota. We also wished to explore the relationships between gut microbes and health outcomes,” Holscher states.
Avocados are full of fat; however, the investigators found that while the avocado group consumed slightly more calories than the control band, slightly more fat was excreted in their feces.
“Greater fat excretion implies the researchers were Absorbing less energy from the foods that they had been ingesting. This was probably due to discounts in polyunsaturated fats, which are molecules our digestion system secretes that allow us to absorb fat. We discovered that the quantity of bile acids in stool was reduced and the amount of fat in the feces was higher in the avocado category,” Holscher explains.
Various kinds of fats have differential effects on gut microbiota. The fats in avocados are monounsaturated, which are heart-healthy fats.
Soluble fiber material is also quite important, Holscher notes. A medium avocado provides approximately 12 grams of fiber, which goes a long way toward fulfilling the recommended quantity of 28 to 34 g of fiber per day.
“Less than 5 percent of Americans consume enough fiber. Many Men and Women consume Approximately 12 to 16 grams of fiber per day. Thus, incorporating avocados in your diet can help get you closer to fulfilling the fiber recommendation,” she notes.
Eating fiber isn’t just good for us; it is important for the gut microbiota, also, Holscher states. “We can’t break down dietary fibers, but certain gut microbes can. When we consume dietary fiber, it’s a win-win for gut microbes and for us.”
Holscher’s research lab specializes in dietary modulation of the “Our goal was to test the hypothesis that the fats and the fiber in avocados positively affect the gut microbiota. We also wanted to explore the relationships between gut microbes and health outcomes,” Holscher says.
Avocado is a energy-dense food, but it’s also nutrient dense, and it contains important micronutrients which Americans don’t eat enough of, such as potassium and fiber.
“It’s just a really nicely packaged fruit that contains nutrients that are important for health. Our work shows we can add benefits to gut health to that list,” Holscher says.
Related Journal Article: https://academic.oup.com/jn/advance-article/doi/10.1093/jn/nxaa219/5893497