A diet including daily avocado consumption improves the ability to focus attention in adults whose measurements of height and weight are categorized as overweight or obese, according to a study posted on the website of the University of Illinois (UI) on Friday.
In the study, the researchers provided 12 weeks of daily meals to 84 adults with overweight or obesity. The meals were identical in calories and macronutrients, but one group's meals included a fresh avocado every day, while the control group had no avocado in their meals.
At the beginning and end of the study, the participants completed three cognitive tests to measure attention and inhibition. In addition, the researchers measured lutein levels in the participants' serum and in their retinas, which is associated with the lutein concentration in the brain.
They found that the participants whose diets included avocados improved their performance on one of the cognitive tests, called the Flanker task, which measures attentional inhibition - the ability to maintain focus on the task at hand even in the face of distraction. However, there was no difference in the other two cognitive tests.
"It could be that nutrients in avocados have a specific action in the brain that supports the ability to do this task in particular, or they could be more beneficial for certain cognitive abilities over others," said kinesiology and community health professor Naiman Khan, who led the study. "It's also possible that with a longer study or different tests, we could see other effects."
Another unexpected finding was that, while the participants who ate avocados had higher levels of lutein at the end of the study, the changes in lutein levels were not correlated with their cognitive changes.
"Avocados also are high in fiber and monounsaturated fats. It is possible that these other nutrients may have played a role in the cognitive effects we saw, but we focused on the lutein in our analyses," said graduate student Caitlyn Edwards, the first author of the study. "Future analyses may focus on other nutrients found in avocados, or avocado consumption's impact on other measures such as weight status, inflammation and potential changes in the microbiome."
Although this study focused on avocados, other dietary sources of lutein, fiber and unsaturated fats such as green leafy vegetables or eggs also have potential cognitive and health benefits.
The study shows that small dietary changes, such as eating avocados, can have measurable impacts on cognitive performance, even when other health behaviors remain the same, the researchers noted.
The study has been published in the International Journal of Psychophysiology.
