Avocado is a fruit that has various health benefits. Recently, avocados have become very popular because they are considered good for consumption when dieting. The popularity of using avocados as food is increasing, there are even special diets where avocados are the main food consumed when dieting. However, can avocados really help you lose weight? Avocado is a fruit that is high in fat content. Let’s take a look at the facts!
- Avocados Are Source of Healthy Fats
Avocado is a fruit that is classified in the group of food sources of fat. According to the Indonesian Food Consumption Data (TKPI), avocados contain 6.5 grams of fat for every 100 grams of fruit flesh consumed. If converted, the calories we get from fat in avocados are around 58.5 kcal. In fact, 100 grams of avocado contains 84.3 kcal. It means when we consume avocados, about 70% of the calories we get from their fat.
However, the fat contained in avocados is monounsaturated fat. This type of fat is good for the body. Through research conducted by Wang, et al and published in the Journal of the American Heart Association in 2015, it is known that people who consume avocados in the diet have lower cholesterol levels compared to the low-fat diet group and the moderate-fat diet group that does not consume avocados.
- Avocados are able to maintain satiety
The advantage of avocados in the diet is that avocados are able to provide a feeling of fullness for a long time. This can help us not be easily tempted to snack or consume other foods. This feeling of fullness is due to avocados having a high fiber content. Foods that contain high fiber have a filling effect because of their low density and ability to taste. This means that it takes our bodies longer to digest fiber because fiber can slow the release of food from the stomach. As a result, the body will limit other intakes to enter by suppressing the release of hunger signals.
- Avocados Can Improve Women's Body Fat Composition
In a study conducted by Fulgoni, et al which was published in the Journal of Nutrition in 2012, it was found that women who consumed one avocado per day experienced a decrease in abdominal fat. Decreased belly fat can reduce the risk of diabetes, metabolic syndrome, heart disease, and stroke. According to the Indonesian Ministry of Health, the safe limit for abdominal circumference in women does have a smaller value than in men. For women, the safe limit is 80 cm, while for men, the safe limit is 90 cm. We can measure the circumference of the abdomen by ourselves using a measuring tape.
- Be Careful: Avocados Are Calorie-Dense Foods
Behind all of the benefits of avocados that have been described, please take note that avocados are calorie-dense foods. In general, high-fat foods do have high calories, because 1 gram of fat is equal to 9 kcal, while 1 gram of protein or carbohydrates is equivalent to 4 kcal. Therefore, we need to be careful not to consume avocados in excess. If we consume large amounts of calorie-dense foods, the possibility of excess calories will also be greater. However, consuming any food in excess is not good, right?
So, if you are an avocado lover, you can include the fruit in your daily diet in small portions. Want to know what other foods are useful for your diet? Let’s read other nutrition and health articles from Fitie!
Sources :
Després J. P. (2007). Cardiovascular disease under the influence of excess visceral fat. Critical pathways in cardiology, 6(2), 51–59.
Fulgoni, V. L., Dreher, M. & Davenport, A. J. (2013). Avocado consumption is associated with better diet quality and nutrient intake, and lower metabolic syndrome risk in US adults: results from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2001–2008. Journal of Nutrition, 12(1).
Jung, S. H., Ha, K. H., & Kim, D. J. (2016). Visceral Fat Mass Has Stronger Associations with Diabetes and Prediabetes than Other Anthropometric Obesity Indicators among Korean Adults. Yonsei medical journal, 57(3), 674–680.
Kementerian Kesehatan RI. (2017). Data Konsumsi Pangan Indonesia. Jakarta: Kementerian Kesehatan RI.
Pereira M. A., Ludwig D. S. (2001). Dietary Fiber and Body-Weight Regulation. Pediatric Clinics of North America, 969-980.
Wang, L., Bordi, P. L., Fleming, J. A., Hill, A. M., & Kris-Etherton, P. M. (2015). Effect of a moderate fat diet with and without avocados on lipoprotein particle number, size and subclasses in overweight and obese adults: a randomized, controlled trial. Journal of the American Heart Association, 4(1).