A new study from the University of Illinois showed that making avocado a part of one's daily diet can improve gut health. Avocados are known to be healthy food packed with vitamins, dietary fiber, and monosaturated fat. However, scientists are unsure of how avocado can influence gut microbes.
"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, a graduate student in the university and lead author on the paper which was published in the Journal of Nutrition.
An Avocado A Day Is Good for Gut Microbes
According to Science Daily, those who eat avocado every day has a greater abundance of gut microbes that break down fiber and produce metabolites that are good for overall gut health. Compared to people who do not eat avocado, those who ate the fruit as part of their daily diet have greater microbial diversity.
Thompson said that the microbes produce microbial metabolites that influence health, and consumption of avocado reduces the bile acids while increasing the short chain of fatty acids. "These changes correlate with beneficial health outcomes," she said.
Previous studies about avocado have focused on its positive effects on weight loss. But this recent study told its participants to not restrict or change their food intake, but just to replace one meal per day with avocado in their daily diet.
Avocados are rich in fat. They found that the experimental group that consumes slightly more calories than the control also excrete greater fat, which means they are absorbing less energy from the foods they are eating. Researchers explain that greater fat excretion is most likely due to the reduction of bile acids, which allows the body to absorb fat.
Fiber in Avocado is Also Good for Microbiomes
Moreover, researchers emphasized the importance of soluble fiber in avocados that will help people meet their daily needs for fiber recommendations. But fiber is not only good for humans because it is also good for microbiomes, which breaks down the fiber.
The researchers said that it is also necessary to think of good food to feed microbiomes in the gut. Consuming avocado every day is a win-win for both humans and microbiomes, Yahoo! reported.
Although avocados are energy-dense food, they are also healthy food that is rich in nutrients, containing important micronutrients that are most Americans do not eat enough of, such as fiber and potassium.
Hannah Holscher, assistant professor of nutrition in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition and one of the study authors, said that avocados are nutrient-rich fruit that is fully-packed with nutrients crucial to a healthy body. The study they conducted can add to the growing literature of health benefits that the avocados offer.
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