Daily avocado consumption does not impact visceral adiposity
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Consumption of one avocado daily was not found to reduce visceral adiposity and only had a slight effect on cardiometabolic disorder risk factors, researchers reported in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
“In a large multicenter study of 1,008 free-living participants with elevated waist circumference, addition of one avocado a day for 6 months to habitual diets had no effect on visceral adipose tissue volume, the primary study endpoint, despite a positive effect on diet quality,” Alice H. Lichtenstein, DSc, FAHA, senior scientist and director of the cardiovascular nutrition team at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University, and colleagues wrote.
In a randomized controlled, parallel-arm, unblinded study, 1,008 participants with elevated waist circumferences took part in the Habitual Diet and Avocado Trial (HAT). From June 27, 2018, to March 4, 2020, participants were randomly divided into the avocado supplemented diet group and were instructed to eat one avocado every day or the habitual diet group and were told to stay on their usual diet to see whether consuming one avocado daily for 6 months would reduce visceral adiposity (waist circumference 40 inches for men or 35 inches for women).
At baseline, week 12 and week 26, weight, waist circumference, health-related quality of life and blood samples were gathered. Additionally, MRI scans were taken before randomization and at the end of the 6-month period. The follow-up MRI was not recorded for 85 participants and 12 scans were not readable, leaving 923 participants, 455 in the avocado diet group and 468 in the habitual diet group, with complete 6-month MRI data.
No significant difference was observed between the groups with regard to the primary outcome of a change in visceral adipose tissue volume (estimated mean difference, 0.017 L; 95% CI, –0.024 to 0.058; P = .405).
Secondary outcomes, including changes in hepatic fat fraction, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein and components of the metabolic syndrome, also were similar between the groups.
The only factors that were nominally significant were total cholesterol and LDL. The avocado supplemented group demonstrated modest decreases compared with the habitual diet group (difference in total cholesterol, 2.9 mg/dL; P = .026; difference in LDL, 2.5 mg/dL; P = .038).
“Consistent with prior observations, a change in dietary patterns rather than a single food or nutrient may be necessary to achieve clinically significant improvements in visceral adiposity and other cardiometabolic risk factors,” Lichtenstein and colleagues wrote.
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