Insights & Discussion
Consumption of unripe avocado extract in the diet may lower postprandial insulin levels in overweight adults with previously elevated insulin levels.
In this study, a double-blinded, randomised controlled trial was performed on 60 non-diabetic adults (with a majority of 47 being women, average age 48 years, BMI 34.0 kg/m). The participants were stratified by sex and randomised into two groups. One group daily consumed an extract from unripe avocado (10 g finely ground, freeze-dried unripe avocado), while the other took a placebo (10 g finely ground cornmeal supplemented with 5% spinach powder) over a period of 12 weeks. The primary outcome measured was the change in glucose area under the curve (AUC) in response to a 75 g oral glucose tolerance test.
The results showed no significant differences between both groups in terms of glucose AUC, insulin AUC, or cardiovascular outcomes. However, in a subgroup analysis focusing on participants with above median baseline postprandial insulin levels, there was a notable reduction in insulin AUC in those who consumed the avocado extract compared to the placebo. This suggests that the daily consumption of an unripe avocado extract, enriched in MH, might not significantly impact glucose tolerance or insulin sensitivity in obese non-diabetic adults. Nonetheless, there seems to be a potential benefit of this intervention on postprandial insulin levels in individuals with initially elevated insulin responses.
Discover Related Insights
Avocado consumption is linked to better glucose regulation, with metabolomic biomarkers of avocado intake showing even stronger associations with lower glycemia.
2023 The Journal of Nutrition Associations between Metabolomic Biomarkers of Avocado Intake and Glycemia in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis Wood AC, Goodarzi MO, Senn MK, Gadgil MD, Graca G, Allison MA, et al.
Cohort Study Avocado Blood Sugar
The study used baseline data from 6224 multi-ethnic older adults, including self-reported avocado intake, fasting glucose and insulin. Untargeted plasma proton nuclear magnetic resonance contributed to metabolomic features, with data available for a subset of 3438 participants. The researchers then assessed the incidence of type 2 diabetes over approximately an 18-year follow-up period. They conducted a metabolome-wide association study comparing avocado consumers to nonconsumers and examined the features' associations with glycemia, both cross-sectionally with fasting insulin and glucose, and longitudinally with the incidence of type 2 diabetes.
The research identified three highly-correlated spectral features associated with avocado intake at metabolome-wide significance levels and grouped into a single biomarker. These features didn't demonstrate any strong associations with overall dietary quality or any of the 47 other food groups, reinforcing their validity as an avocado intake biomarker. While avocado intake had a modest effect on lowering fasting insulin, this effect was not significant when adjusting for participants' body mass index. However, the avocado intake biomarker was noticeably related to lower fasting glucose, lower fasting insulin, and a lower incidence of type 2 diabetes, even after adjusting for BMI. This illustrates the considerable influence of metabolomic insights in determining diet-health relationships and the importance of considering individual metabolic differences for health outcomes.
Coffee consumption, in the long term, improves glucose metabolism but may cause unfavourable acute effects.
2019 Journal of Traditional and Complementary Medicine Effects of coffee consumption on glucose metabolism: A systematic review of clinical trials Reis CEG, Dórea JG, da Costa THM
Systematic Review Blood Sugar Glucose Glucose Metabolism
Researchers undertook a systematic review to evaluate the impact of coffee consumption on glucose metabolism. They scanned two electronic databases, PubMed and Web of Science, for relevant studies published till September 2017. After thorough scrutiny, eight clinical trials involving 247 participants were earmarked for analysis. These trials were divided into short-term (1-3 hours) and long-term (2-16 weeks) studies for distinct evaluation. The participants' characteristics, major discoveries, and study quality were all meticulously noted and analysed.
The initial short-term studies revealed that consumption of caffeinated coffee might lead to an escalation in the area under the curve for the glucose response, an immediate effect. Conversely, long-term studies suggested that caffeinated coffee might contribute to the enhancement of glycaemic metabolism over time by reducing the glucose curve and bolstering the insulin response. Despite the immediate short-term effects, an overall positive long-term impact on glucose metabolism was reported.