Associations between Avocado Consumption and Diet Quality, Dietary Intake, Measures of Obesity and Body Composition in Adolescents: The Teen Food and Development Study

Abstract

Avocado is a nutrient-rich food that has been shown to benefit the health and diet quality of adults. In this paper, we examined if habitual intake of avocado among adolescents is associated with their diet quality, food and nutrient intake, and measures of obesity and body composition. Participants aged 12-18 years old (n = 534) from selected public and Adventist middle-high schools reported their dietary intake in a web-based food frequency questionnaire (FFQ); anthropometrics were measured during school visits. Diet quality (DQI-I) and avocado intake were calculated from the FFQ; BMI z-scores (BMIz), waist-to-height ratio (WHtR), and fat mass (FM), fat-free mass (FFM), and %body fat (%BF) were determined from the anthropometric data. Compared to non-consumers, avocado consumers had significantly higher covariate-adjusted mean scores on total DQI-I (68.3 vs. 64.6) and energy-adjusted mean scores on variety (18.8 vs. 18.0) and adequacy (36.4 vs. 33.4). Avocado consumption was significantly associated with DQI-I components adequacy (β [SE] = 0.11 [0.03]) and moderation (β [SE] = 0.06 [0.03]) but not with BMIz, WHtR, FM, FFM, and %BF. Mean intakes of fruits, vegetables, and plant protein foods, total and vegetable proteins, dietary fiber, retinol, vitamin C, calcium, magnesium, iron, and potassium were significantly higher for avocado consumers; saturated and trans fats intakes were significantly higher for non-consumers. In our adolescent population, avocado consumption was associated with higher diet quality and intake of plant-based foods and shortfall nutrients, but not with measures of obesity and body composition. Studies are needed to determine the optimal amount of avocado that would confer health benefits during adolescence.

Keywords: adequacy; adolescence; children; diet quality index-international; moderation; obesity; plant-based; shortfall nutrients; vegetarian.

Figure 1

(a) Distribution densities of the DQI scores indicate a “shift” to an improved diet quality for avocado consumers compared to non-consumers among adolescents. (b) Although both groups seem to have adequate intake, the adequacy of intake is greater among avocado consumers.

Figure 2

Correlation network showing the associations between avocado intake and intake of other foods. Blue represents positive while red represents inverse correlations. For examples, avocado intake is highly positively correlated with intake of fruits and moderately positively correlated with intake of vegetables and legumes, whereas legumes is strongly positively correlated with vegetables and positively moderately correlated with fruits, but moderately negatively correlated with intakes of milk and meat/fish; grains intake is weakly positively correlated with intake of vegetables but moderately negatively correlated with intake of bread and weakly negatively correlated with cereal intake, and so forth.