Avocado intake, diet quality and body measures in teenagers
What it found
Teenagers who ate avocado had better diet quality scores and ate more fruits, vegetables and key nutrients than those who did not.
Avocado intake was not linked to any difference in body weight, waist size or body fat.
What they found
Studies in people
Diet quality scores
Teenagers who ate avocado had higher total diet quality scores than those who did not, 68.3 compared to 64.6. They also scored higher on variety and adequacy of their diets.
Foods and nutrients eaten
Avocado eaters ate more fruits, vegetables and plant proteins, and more fiber, vitamin C, calcium, magnesium, iron and potassium. Those who did not eat avocado ate more saturated and trans fats.
Body weight and fat
There was no difference between avocado eaters and non-eaters in body mass index, waist-to-height ratio, fat mass, fat-free mass or percentage body fat.
Sodium intake
Teenagers who ate avocado took in about 119 mg more sodium per day than those who did not.
Amount eaten
About 60% of the teenagers ate avocado, with an average of 62 g per week, which is about two-thirds of a medium avocado.
What the authors conclude
“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.”
Also in their conclusions
- They say avocado consumption was linked to better diet quality and higher intake of plant-based foods and shortfall nutrients in this group of adolescents.
- They report that avocado intake was not associated with measures of obesity and body composition in their adolescent population.
- They call for further studies to find out if there is an optimal amount of avocado that would protect against excess body fat during adolescence.
How it was done
Avocado is a nutrient-rich food that has been shown to benefit the health and diet quality of adults. The authors wanted to see if the same pattern held in teenagers, since no study had looked at this before.
They asked 534 adolescents aged 12 to 18 from public and Adventist schools in southern California and Michigan about their usual food intake using a web-based food frequency questionnaire. Height, weight, waist and body composition were measured during school visits.
What it can’t tell you
- This was a cross-sectional study, so it can show links but not whether eating avocado causes better diet quality or other outcomes.
- The teenagers studied mostly came from Adventist families with healthy lifestyles, so the results may not apply to all adolescents.
- The amount of avocado eaten was low, which may have limited the ability to detect any relationship with body measurements.
Who paid
- Funding
- Funded by Hass Avocado Board/Avocado Nutrition Center (from the PubMed record).
- Conflicts
- The authors declare no conflict of interest.
- Authors work at
- Loma Linda University, USA; University of New Mexico, USA
The paper
- Title
- Associations between Avocado Consumption and Diet Quality, Dietary Intake, Measures of Obesity and Body Composition in Adolescents: The Teen Food and Development Study
- Type
- Study
- Evidence
- Studies in people
- Summarised from
- Full text
- Licence
- CC BY. Words in quotation marks are the authors’; the rest is our summary.
- Cite
- Segovia-Siapco G, Paalani M, Oda K, Pribis P, Sabaté J (2021). Associations between Avocado Consumption and Diet Quality, Dietary Intake, Measures of Obesity and Body Composition in Adolescents: The Teen Food and Development Study. Nutrients. doi:10.3390/nu13124489Free full textPubMed 34960040DOI
Summary written 30 Sep 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error