Ruminations: An Avocado a Day Keeps the Doctor Away

"The goal wasn't weight loss. We were interested in understanding what eating an avocado does to the way individuals sore their body fat. The location of fat in the body plays an important role in health."
"In the abdomen, there are two kinds of fat: Fat that accumulates right underneath the skin, called subcutaneous fat, and fat that accumulates deeper in the abdomen, known as visceral fat that surrounds the internal organs. Individuals with a higher proportion of that deeper visceral fat tend to be at a higher risk of developing diabetes. We were interested in determining whether the ratio of subcutaneous to visceral fat changed with avocado consumption."
Naiman Khan, professor, Nutritional Neuroscience, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

EatThisNotThat!

This study judging that daily consumption of an avocado has the effect of redistributing body fat for women in a way proven to be healthier was funded by the Hass Avocado Board. It was published in a reputable journal, the Journal of Nutrition. And since it concluded that the health benefits were totally skewed in favour of women, and did nothing for men in the way of fat redistribution, that very fact is a redeeming one as far as skepticism is concerned.

Female subjects who consumed a daily avocado were found by the researchers to experience a decrease in the visceral abdominal fat surrounding their organs. Also seen was a healthy reduction in the ratio of visceral to subcutaneous fat; but in women almost exclusively. The same phenomenon for unknown reasons that further research may reveal, failed to work its wonders in male subject participants in the study. But as it happened neither gender was seen to experience a greater capability to process glucose.

(Photo credit MARK RALSTON/AFP via Getty Images)

"While daily consumption of avocados did not change glucose tolerance, what we learned is that a dietary pattern that includes an avocado every day impacted the way individuals store body fat in a beneficial manner for their health, but the benefits were primarily in females."
"It's important to demonstrate that dietary interventions can modulate fat distribution. Learning that the benefits were only evident in females tells us a little bit about the potential for sex playing a role in dietary intervention responses."
Naiman Khan, lead study researcher

The researchers intend to eventually go a little further to study avocados' health effect through conducting a more in-depth study which would provide all meals to participants in a search for additional indicators of gut and physical health, one which may isolate the effects of the fruit on the metabolism of both men and women.

"Our research not only sheds a valuable light on benefits of daily avocado consumption on the different types of fat distribution across genders, it provides us with a foundation to conduct further work to understand the full impact avocados have on body fat and health."
"By taking our research further, we will be able to gain a clearer picture into which types of people would benefit more from incorporating avocados into their diets and deliver valuable data for health care advisers, to provide patients with guidance on how to reduce the storage and the potential dangers of diabetes."
Richard Mackenzie, professor of human metabolism, University of Roehampton, London