Avocados on an Everyday Basis Help Defeat Belly Fat in Women

The other secret of these fatty fruits is also finally out as “they’re packed with good fats and fiber, which means they help you stay full longer. They’re also a great source of vitamins,” says Charlotte Roberts, a registered dietician and certified diabetes educator with Cedars-Sinai.

Prevalence of Obesity

Overweight and obesity are the challenging health burden of society. The measure of a BMI greater than or equal to 25 is defined as overweight and greater than or equal to 30 is defined as obesity. The rate of obesity has nearly tripled since 1975 globally.

Obesity is one of the major contributors to various health hazards including risk factors for diseases like diabetes and vascular diseases – heart diseases & stroke. The location of body fat 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. So we were interested in determining whether the ratio of subcutaneous to visceral fat changed with avocado consumption,” says Naiman Khan, an Illinois professor of kinesiology and community health, who led the study.

Nutritional Value of Avocados

Avocados are a rich source of varied nutrients that include:

Data on Avocados

The randomized control was performed in 105 adults with overweight and obesity. The participants were provided one meal per day for 12 weeks and were divided into two groups. One group received a fresh avocado in their daily diet whereas, the other group did not contain avocado.

The abdominal fat and glucose tolerance (a measure of metabolism and a marker of diabetes) of the participants were measured at the beginning and end of the 12 weeks.

It was found that there was a reduction in deeper visceral abdominal fat among the women who consumed avocados as part of their daily meals. The fruit was also found to be packed with other nutrients that the body demands apart from being stuffed with healthy fats and dietary fiber.

Nutrient Absorber

Although one may consume a wide variety of nutrients, it is important for the body to fully absorb them for the extraction of their nutrients. Avocados serve the function just right – they act as a direct delivery system!

For example, certain vitamins may not be absorbed well by the body when taken as supplements such as vitamin E. Hence they are best consumed directly from food. Moreover, when you add avocados to your food, it also helps in better absorption of fat-soluble nutrients like vitamins A, D, E, and K.

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Benefits of Avocados in Daily Diet

The study was intended to understand the effects of avocado on the way the body stores its body fat. However, the data also highlighted the benefits of the fruit in reducing the hard-to-target fat – the visceral abdominal fat!

Women also found a decline in the ratio of visceral fat to subcutaneous fat. This intimates that the fat is being redistributed away from the organs. However, no changes were seen with the improvements in glucose tolerance.

Gender-Specific Benefits

The study also found that the fruit had no impact on the fat distribution of males and the benefits were primarily in females. This describes the potential role of sex in dietary intervention responses.

“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,” says study co-author Richard Mackenzie, a professor of human metabolism at the University of Roehampton in London.

Future Prospects

The study team thereby stipulates that further follow-up of the study is yet to be conducted as it may present added markers of gut health and physical health. This would render a more comprehensive idea of the metabolic effects of avocado consumption and its variances between both sexes.

Also, further research may give a more precise depiction as to the types of people who would benefit most from including avocados in their diets along with the supervision on how to overcome fat storage and the potential dangers of diabetes.

Other Benefits of Avocados

• Avocados have anti-inflammatory properties that could aid certain health conditions associated with chronic inflammation.
• Avocados help in halting dementia in older people.
• It improves attention and delays cognitive decline.
• It is a rich source of antioxidants. Hence avocado oils may have anti-aging properties.

References:

1. Avocados change belly fat distribution in women, controlled study finds – (https://news.illinois.edu/view/6367/907033287)
2. Obesity and overweight – (https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/obesity-and-overweight)
3. In Case You Need a Reason to Eat More Avocado – (https://www.cedars-sinai.org/blog/healthy-and-delicious-avocado.html)

Source: Medindia