Avocado weight loss study looking to pay participants
A study at the Loma Linda University School of Public Health wants to find out if you could lose weight by eating avocados.
Avocados actually contain the highest fat content of any fruit, so it is a bit strange to think they might actually help people lose their belly fat.
Joan Sabate, MD, DrPH, is willing to pay 250 people to help researchers determine if moderate avocado consumption actually promotes weight loss.
Sabate, who directs the Center for Nutrition, Lifestyle and Disease Prevention at the school, says LLU and three other American universities will evaluate the controversial idea in a randomized, six-month trial.
“The study will examine whether eating one avocado per day reduces visceral adipose fat in the abdomen,” Sabate says.
Participants for the study must:
Be 25 years of age or older Be willing to either eat one avocado per day for six months or eat only two avocados per month for the same period Measure at least 40 inches around the waist if they are male, or Measure at least 35 inches around the waist if they are female.
Participants in the study will be randomly assigned to one of two groups. The test group will be given 16 avocados every two weeks and will be required to eat one avocado per day throughout the six-month study.
The control group will be required to eat no more than two avocados per month during the same period.
Select participants will receive a free MRI and health screening by an LLU clinician and be asked to attend a monthly meeting with a dietician. Upon successful completion of the study, participants in both groups will be paid $300 each, and members of the control group will be given 24 avocados to enjoy.
There will be 1,000 total participants in the study as Penn State University, Tufts University and, the University of California, Los Angeles, will also each recruit 250 participants.
Although the study is funded by the Hass Avocado Board, Sabate says sponsorship will not affect the findings.
To enroll in the study, visit www.HATstudy.org. For more information or to ask questions, email HATstudy@llu.edu or call 909-558-8382.
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