New Research Shows Eating Avocados Supports a Healthy Gut

Key TakeawaysA new study found that eating one avocado every day for 12 weeks had a positive effect on the diversity of the gut microbiome.A less diverse gut microbiome has been linked to the development of obesity and many health problems.Adding foods like avocados, fermented foods, and whole grains to your diet can improve the diversity of your gut microbiome.

Key Takeaways

A new study found that eating one avocado every day for 12 weeks had a positive effect on the diversity of the gut microbiome.A less diverse gut microbiome has been linked to the development of obesity and many health problems.Adding foods like avocados, fermented foods, and whole grains to your diet can improve the diversity of your gut microbiome.

According to a new study, eating one avocado a day can help keep the microbes in your gut healthy, diverse, and balanced.The study’s findings were published in August inTheJournal of Nutrition.

“We’ve known for some time that people should eat more fiber for gut health, but now there’s research to prove it when it comes to the green goodness we all know and love: avocados,”Elizabeth Shaw, MS, RD, a California-based registered dietitian and the author of “Instant Pot For Dummies,” tells Verywell.

8 Foods to Increase HDL Good Cholesterol

The Study

In the participants who ate one avocado per day for 12 weeks, the researchers observed positive changes in gut bacteria, including increased bacterial diversity.

Gut Flora and Your Health

“Not only did the participants improve their gut health with avocado consumption, but they did not have to adhere to a restrictive diet and eliminate foods,” Shaw says.

It’s important to keep in mind that a single study’s findings cannot be generalized to a larger population. However, the results of the recent trial add to a growing body of evidence that avocados help manage the intestinal microbiome.

What This Means For YouA diverse gut microbiome can benefit your health. If you like avocado, adding one to your diet each day can help improve the diversity of your gut microbes. Even though they are a rich source of healthy fat, they are not likely to contribute to weight gain if enjoyed in moderation.

What This Means For You

A diverse gut microbiome can benefit your health. If you like avocado, adding one to your diet each day can help improve the diversity of your gut microbes. Even though they are a rich source of healthy fat, they are not likely to contribute to weight gain if enjoyed in moderation.

Additional Research

People who consumed an avocado every day for 12 weeks had more abundant gut bacteria, suggesting that the fiber in avocados plays a positive role in gut health.

“So often, clients who restrict their intakes to follow a specific diet pattern end up losing the progress they made in their overall health because it wasn’t sustainable," Shaw says. “This shows that adding heart-healthy foods like avocados into a balanced diet may be a great new diet trend to improve your gut health.”

What About Weight Gain?Avocados are rich inmonounsaturated“good fat.” While the avocado group in the study consumed slightly more calories than the control group, they also expelled slightly more fat in their stool. This means that fewer calories were absorbed from the foods they ate. At the 12-week follow-up, body weights did not differ between the two groups.

What About Weight Gain?

Avocados are rich inmonounsaturated“good fat.” While the avocado group in the study consumed slightly more calories than the control group, they also expelled slightly more fat in their stool. This means that fewer calories were absorbed from the foods they ate. At the 12-week follow-up, body weights did not differ between the two groups.

Gut Diversity and Health

The termgut microbiomerefers to the collective microorganisms living in your intestines. Approximately 100 trillion microorganisms, including bacteria, viruses, fungi, and others, exist in the human gastrointestinal tract.

Avocados and IBS

Having a diverse microbiome means that you have a range of different organisms in your gut, many of which offer health benefits.

Reduced bacterial diversity in the gut ha been linked to:

How Your Gut Flora Affects Your Health

Why Avocados for Gut Health?

The Institute of Medicine (IOM) recommends a daily fiber intake ranging from 19 grams to 38 grams per day, depending on several factors like your age.

Despite the recommendation, approximately 95% of American adults and children do not consume recommended amounts of fiber. Including foods like avocados in your healthy diet can help you meet your daily fiber requirements.

Avocados are a good source of dietary fiber (11% of the recommended daily value). One-third of an avocado contains 3 grams of fiber (1.2 grams of which is pectin).

Fruit fiber, such as pectin, has been shown to promote a healthy gut microbiome. Scientists suggest this might be the case because of pectin’s positive effect on beneficial live probiotics.

The Health Benefits of Fiber

Improving Gut Health

If you like avocados and already make them part of your diet, the recent research supports continuing to enjoy them regularly. However, if you are not an avocado-lover, know that there are other ways you can support your gut health.

If you want to start including more avocados in your diet, there are many ways to enjoy them. From adding them to a smoothie, slicing them up to top a sandwich, or making guacamole, avocados are incredibly versatile.

If you’re especially eager and buy more avocados than you can eat before they get too ripe, you can freeze them. Peel and slice them first, then pop them in the freezer to have avocados year-round.

Protein in Avocados

6 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Thompson S, Bailey M, Taylor A, Kaczmarek J, Mysonhimer AR, Edwards CG, et al.Avocado Consumption Alters Gastrointestinal Bacteria Abundance and Microbial Metabolite Concentrations among Adults with Overweight or Obesity: A Randomized Controlled Trial.J Nutr. 2020 Aug 17; doi:10.1093/jn/nxaa219 Online ahead of print.Henning S, Yang J, Woo S, Lee R, Huang J, Rasmuen A, et al.Hass Avocado Inclusion in a Weight-Loss Diet Supported Weight Loss and Altered Gut Microbiota: A 12-Week Randomized, Parallel-Controlled Trial.Clin Dev Nutr. 2019 Jun 12;3(8):nzz068. doi:10.1093/cdn/nzz068Valdes A, Walter J, Segal E, Spector T.Role of the gut microbiota in nutrition and health.BMJ. 2018 Jun 13;361:k2179. doi:10.1136/bmj.k2179Quagliani D, Felt-Gunderson P.Closing America’s Fiber Intake Gap: Communication Strategies From a Food and Fiber Summit.Am J Lifestyle Med. 2016 Jul 7;11(1):80 85. doi:10.1177/1559827615588079Beukema M, Faas M, de Vos P.The effects of different dietary fiber pectin structures on the gastrointestinal immune barrier: impact via gut microbiota and direct effects on immune cells.Exp Mol Med. 2020 Sep;52(9):1364-1376. doi:10.1038/s12276-020-0449-2Larsen N, Barbosa T, Isay Saad S, Blennow A, Jespersen L.The effect of pectins on survival of probiotic Lactobacillus spp. in gastrointestinal juices is related to their structure and physical properties.Food Microbiol. 2018 Sep;74:11-20. doi:10.1016/j.fm.2018.02.015

6 Sources

Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Thompson S, Bailey M, Taylor A, Kaczmarek J, Mysonhimer AR, Edwards CG, et al.Avocado Consumption Alters Gastrointestinal Bacteria Abundance and Microbial Metabolite Concentrations among Adults with Overweight or Obesity: A Randomized Controlled Trial.J Nutr. 2020 Aug 17; doi:10.1093/jn/nxaa219 Online ahead of print.Henning S, Yang J, Woo S, Lee R, Huang J, Rasmuen A, et al.Hass Avocado Inclusion in a Weight-Loss Diet Supported Weight Loss and Altered Gut Microbiota: A 12-Week Randomized, Parallel-Controlled Trial.Clin Dev Nutr. 2019 Jun 12;3(8):nzz068. doi:10.1093/cdn/nzz068Valdes A, Walter J, Segal E, Spector T.Role of the gut microbiota in nutrition and health.BMJ. 2018 Jun 13;361:k2179. doi:10.1136/bmj.k2179Quagliani D, Felt-Gunderson P.Closing America’s Fiber Intake Gap: Communication Strategies From a Food and Fiber Summit.Am J Lifestyle Med. 2016 Jul 7;11(1):80 85. doi:10.1177/1559827615588079Beukema M, Faas M, de Vos P.The effects of different dietary fiber pectin structures on the gastrointestinal immune barrier: impact via gut microbiota and direct effects on immune cells.Exp Mol Med. 2020 Sep;52(9):1364-1376. doi:10.1038/s12276-020-0449-2Larsen N, Barbosa T, Isay Saad S, Blennow A, Jespersen L.The effect of pectins on survival of probiotic Lactobacillus spp. in gastrointestinal juices is related to their structure and physical properties.Food Microbiol. 2018 Sep;74:11-20. doi:10.1016/j.fm.2018.02.015

Thompson S, Bailey M, Taylor A, Kaczmarek J, Mysonhimer AR, Edwards CG, et al.Avocado Consumption Alters Gastrointestinal Bacteria Abundance and Microbial Metabolite Concentrations among Adults with Overweight or Obesity: A Randomized Controlled Trial.J Nutr. 2020 Aug 17; doi:10.1093/jn/nxaa219 Online ahead of print.Henning S, Yang J, Woo S, Lee R, Huang J, Rasmuen A, et al.Hass Avocado Inclusion in a Weight-Loss Diet Supported Weight Loss and Altered Gut Microbiota: A 12-Week Randomized, Parallel-Controlled Trial.Clin Dev Nutr. 2019 Jun 12;3(8):nzz068. doi:10.1093/cdn/nzz068Valdes A, Walter J, Segal E, Spector T.Role of the gut microbiota in nutrition and health.BMJ. 2018 Jun 13;361:k2179. doi:10.1136/bmj.k2179Quagliani D, Felt-Gunderson P.Closing America’s Fiber Intake Gap: Communication Strategies From a Food and Fiber Summit.Am J Lifestyle Med. 2016 Jul 7;11(1):80 85. doi:10.1177/1559827615588079Beukema M, Faas M, de Vos P.The effects of different dietary fiber pectin structures on the gastrointestinal immune barrier: impact via gut microbiota and direct effects on immune cells.Exp Mol Med. 2020 Sep;52(9):1364-1376. doi:10.1038/s12276-020-0449-2Larsen N, Barbosa T, Isay Saad S, Blennow A, Jespersen L.The effect of pectins on survival of probiotic Lactobacillus spp. in gastrointestinal juices is related to their structure and physical properties.Food Microbiol. 2018 Sep;74:11-20. doi:10.1016/j.fm.2018.02.015

Henning S, Yang J, Woo S, Lee R, Huang J, Rasmuen A, et al.Hass Avocado Inclusion in a Weight-Loss Diet Supported Weight Loss and Altered Gut Microbiota: A 12-Week Randomized, Parallel-Controlled Trial.Clin Dev Nutr. 2019 Jun 12;3(8):nzz068. doi:10.1093/cdn/nzz068

Valdes A, Walter J, Segal E, Spector T.Role of the gut microbiota in nutrition and health.BMJ. 2018 Jun 13;361:k2179. doi:10.1136/bmj.k2179

Quagliani D, Felt-Gunderson P.Closing America’s Fiber Intake Gap: Communication Strategies From a Food and Fiber Summit.Am J Lifestyle Med. 2016 Jul 7;11(1):80 85. doi:10.1177/1559827615588079

Beukema M, Faas M, de Vos P.The effects of different dietary fiber pectin structures on the gastrointestinal immune barrier: impact via gut microbiota and direct effects on immune cells.Exp Mol Med. 2020 Sep;52(9):1364-1376. doi:10.1038/s12276-020-0449-2

Larsen N, Barbosa T, Isay Saad S, Blennow A, Jespersen L.The effect of pectins on survival of probiotic Lactobacillus spp. in gastrointestinal juices is related to their structure and physical properties.Food Microbiol. 2018 Sep;74:11-20. doi:10.1016/j.fm.2018.02.015

Meet Our Medical Expert Board

Share Feedback

Was this page helpful?Thanks for your feedback!What is your feedback?OtherHelpfulReport an ErrorSubmit

Was this page helpful?

Thanks for your feedback!

What is your feedback?OtherHelpfulReport an ErrorSubmit

What is your feedback?

Key Takeaways#

The Study#

What This Means For You#

Additional Research#

What About Weight Gain?#

Gut Diversity and Health#

Why Avocados for Gut Health?#

Improving Gut Health#