Is avocado good for cardiometabolic health?

Regular consumption of avocado for 6 months results in the modification of the red blood cell (RBC) monounsaturated (MUFA) fatty acid (FA) composition and appears to prevent some unfavourable associations between RBC-FA and cardiometabolic risk factors (CMRF) over time in individuals with abdominal obesity.

A team of investigators profiled RBC-FA at baseline, 3-, and 6-months in 994 participants of the Habitual Diet and Avocado Trial, a multicentre, free-living, parallel-arm intervention study that randomized individuals to either the avocado-supplemented group (AVO, usual diet with 1 avocado per day) or the habitual diet (HAB) group (usual diet with limited avocado intake) for 6 months.

Subsequently, the investigators assessed changes in RBC_FA profiles within and between groups using linear regression and mixed effect models, with adjustments for age, sex, BMI, clinical site, smoking status, and percentage of energy intake from fat at baseline. They also explored the association between changes in RBC-FAs with visceral adiposity measures and CMRFs after covariate and False Discovery Rate (FDR <0.05) adjustment.

No between-group differences were observed in RBC-FA profiles, except for MUFA cis-vaccenic [18:1n−7c], which was significantly higher in AVO (β, 0.11) than HAB (β, 0.03) participants.

In the HAB group, increases in MUFA cis 18:1n−7c, oleic [18;1n−9c], erucic [22:1n−9c]) and MUFA trans (palmitelaidic [16:1n−7t], vaccenic [18:1n−7t], elaidic [18:1n−9t], and petroselaidic [18;1n−10-12t), as well as PUFA γ-linolenic [18:3n−6], dihomo-γ-linolenic [20:3n−6], arachidonic [20:4n−6], and α-linolenic [18:3n−3] contributed to adverse changes in visceral adiposity, lipid profiles, glucose, insulin, and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein concentrations.