In Africa, avocados are commonly used as woody edible oils, and their oils are mixed with food for consumption. After mixing with cassava, corn, soybeans, etc., the fermentation products fermented with Aspergillus niger and Trichoderma, the polyphenols and saponins are degraded, which can improve the taste and nutrition. The fatty acid composition of avocado oil makes its properties and properties suitable for various high-end foods, such as healthy dairy products, chocolate, vegetable butter, healthy candies, etc. Shea butter is a substitute for cocoa butter and occupies an important position in the production and manufacturing of chocolate.
Avocado oil has a white appearance, mild nature, easy application, and easy to absorb by the skin, which makes it have comprehensive properties and is an excellent matrix for high-end cosmetics. Avocado oil has a high content of unsaponifiable matter, among which the rich phytosterols have moisturizing, anti-aging and anti-allergic properties; terpene alcohol cinnamate is the most widely used UBV absorbent and is widely used in sunscreen cosmetics.
Avocado oil has the functions of repairing, conditioning, softening and moisturizing the skin. It has outstanding moisturizing properties, fast absorption, non-greasy, elegant skin feel and safety. It is one of the most popular natural ingredients in skin care today. Avocado oil is often used in high-end brand-name cosmetics and is an important natural substance that cannot be replaced by the matrix of brand-name cosmetics.
The oil residue of avocado is also a nutritious feed, especially for broiler farming. Avocado kernels are rich in fat, an important edible oil and an important industrial and mining oil, and can also be used to make margarine and soap.
In terms of medicinal use, avocado oil can inhibit nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), and has anti-inflammatory effects. Triterpenoid cinnamate and acetate of avocado oil have anti-inflammatory and cancer prevention effects. Avocado oil is effective for inflammation (arthritis). As a pharmaceutical excipient, avocado oil has many advantages compared with vaseline and lanolin, especially in making ointments, creams and emulsions. At the same time, avocado oil also has the effect of promoting drug release and skin absorption.
Recently, a study published in Food Funct Impact of daily avocado consumption on gut microbiota in adults with abdominal obesity: an ancillary study of HAT, a randomized controlled trial deeply explored the short-term and long-term effects of daily avocado consumption on the gut microbiota of adults with abdominal obesity, providing a scientific basis for improving the health of this specific population.
The study adopted a multicenter randomized controlled trial method, with 1008 abdominal obese subjects as subjects, randomly divided into an avocado supplemented diet group (AVO) and a habitual diet group (HAB). A study was conducted on 254 participants (finally 246 completed) at the UCLA site. The AVO group ate one avocado per day and maintained their daily diet, while the HAB group maintained their usual diet and restricted avocado intake. Fecal samples were collected from some participants at baseline, 4 weeks, and 26 weeks, and shotgun metagenomic sequencing was used to evaluate alpha diversity and beta diversity, and multiple statistical methods such as linear mixed models were used to analyze the association between intervention and intestinal microbiome-related indicators.
Participant characteristics and changes in biochemical indicators: The researchers analyzed the baseline characteristics of participants in the HAB and AVO groups in detail and found no significant differences between the two groups. During the 26-week intervention period, the anthropometric measurements (such as BMI, waist circumference, visceral fat mass, liver fat fraction) and biochemical indices (such as insulin, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, blood sugar, and lipid-related indices) of the AVO group did not change significantly, indicating that avocado intake did not have a significant effect on these indices under this experimental condition.
Effect of avocado on diet quality and cholesterol：The AVO group showed significant changes in energy intake, total fruit, whole fruit, fatty acids, and HEI-2015 total score compared with the HAB group, and the participants with low baseline HEI scores improved more significantly, with significant changes in their HEI-2015 total score and HDL-C levels, while participants with high baseline HEI scores did not change significantly, indicating that avocado has a more significant effect on diet quality and cholesterol in those with low baseline diet quality.
Effect of avocado on intestinal microbiota
Increased α diversity: Compared with the HAB group, the species richness (Chao1 index) of the AVO group increased significantly in week 4 and continued until week 26; the Shannon index increased significantly in week 26. Among participants with low baseline HEI scores, the alpha diversity index increased significantly in the AVO group, but there was no significant change in participants with high HEI scores.
Changes in beta diversity: There was a significant difference in the beta diversity of microbial composition between the AVO group and the HAB group at week 26, and it was only detected in participants with low baseline HEI scores.
Differences at the species and genus levels: The relative abundance of multiple species (such as Bacterium AF16_15, Faecalibacterium prausnitzii, etc.) and genera (such as Faecalibacterium, Firmicutes_unclassified, etc.) in the AVO group at week 26 increased significantly. More species and genera were associated with avocado intake in participants with low baseline HEI scores, and no significantly associated species and genera were detected in those with high scores. There was no significant association at the phylum level.
