A new study published in the Journal of Nutrition has found that including avocadoes in your daily diet can help improve your gut health.
Researchers from the University of Illinois said that avocados are rich in dietary fiber and monounsaturated fat, but they did not know how it can influence the gut microbes.
Lead author Sharon Thompson of the University of Illinois said, “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.”
The team found that people who ate avocado daily in their diet had a greater amount of gut microbes that break down dietary fiber and produce metabolites, promoting gut health.
“Microbial metabolites are compounds the microbes produce that influence health,” Thompson explained. “Avocado consumption reduced bile acids and increased short-chain fatty acids. These changes correlate with beneficial health outcomes.”
Senior author Dr. Hannah Holscher said the purpose of this study was to understand the effects of avocados on the gastrointestinal microbiota.
“Our goal was to test the hypothesis that the fats and the fiber in avocados positively affect the gut microbiota,” she said. “We also wanted to explore the relationships between gut microbes and health outcomes.”
Avocados are rich in heart-healthy fats so the researchers found that the participants who ate avocados were found to have slightly more fat in their stool.
Dr. Holscher explained, “Greater fat excretion means the research participants were absorbing less energy from the foods that they were eating. This was likely because of reductions in bile acids, which are molecules our digestion system secretes that allow us to absorb fat.”
“We found that the amount of bile acids in stool was lower and the amount of fat in the stool was higher in the avocado group,” she added.
Dr. Holscher noted that avocados are rich in soluble fiber that is good for your GI health.
“Less than 5% of Americans eat enough fiber,” she said. “Most people consume around 12 to 16 grams of fiber per day. Thus, incorporating avocados in your diet can help get you closer to meeting the fiber recommendation.”
“Eating fiber isn’t just good for us; it’s important for the microbiome, too,” Dr. Holscher continued. “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.”
Avocados also contain essential micronutrients that people usually do not eat enough of, such as potassium.
Dr. Holscher said, “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.” The article originally appeared on Science Daily.
