The Effect of Daily Avocado Intake on Food and Nutrient Displacement in a Free-Living Population with Abdominal Obesity.

Background: Avocado intake has been associated with improvements in diet quality. Whether this response is because of avocado intake, , or combined with a food and/or nutrient displacement (D) has yet to be determined.

Objectives: This secondary analysis, conducted using dietary data from the Habitual Diet and Avocado Trial, sought to assess the effect of consuming a large avocado (168 g, 281 kcal) daily in the avocado-supplemented diet (AD) group compared with the habitual diet (HD) group on food and nutrient D.

Adherence and Body Weight with Daily Avocado Consumption Among Latina Women of the Habitual Diet and Avocado Trial (HAT).

The aim of this study was to examine the adherence, changes in weight, and, waist circumference associated with the daily consumption of a culturally preferred food, namely an avocado, among Hispanic/Latina females in the Habitual Diet and Avocado Trial (HAT). HAT was a multisite, randomized controlled trial conducted between 2018 and 2020. Participants in the Avocado-Supplemented Diet Group were provided with and instructed to consume one avocado/day (~2.

The role of nutrition-related clinical trials in informing dietary recommendations for health and treatment of diseases.

Dietary guidance is based on a robust evidence base that includes high-quality clinical trials, of which some have been designed to establish causal relationships between dietary interventions and ASCVD risk reduction. However, the complexity associated with conducting these trials has resulted in criticism of nutrition and dietary recommendations because the strength and quality of evidence falls short of that for some pharmaceutical interventions. In this paper, we aim to promote greater awareness of the nutrition-related clinical trials that have been conducted showing ASCVD benefits and how this evidence has contributed to dietary recommendations.

Impact of daily avocado consumption on gut microbiota in adults with abdominal obesity: an ancillary study of HAT, a randomized controlled trial.

: This study aimed to investigate short-term and long-term impact of avocado consumption without caloric restriction on the gut microbiota of free-living adults with abdominal obesity. : The Habitual Diet and Avocado Trial (HAT) was a 26-week, multi-center, randomized, controlled trial involving 1008 individuals with abdominal obesity. Participants were randomly assigned to the Avocado Supplemented Diet Group (AVO), receiving one avocado per day, or the Habitual Diet group (HAB), maintaining their usual dietary habits.

Differential regulation of brain microvessel transcriptome and brain metabolome by western and heart-healthy dietary patterns in Ossabaw pigs.

Diet is a potentially modifiable neurodegenerative disease risk factor. We studied the effects of a typical Western diet (WD; high in refined carbohydrates, cholesterol and saturated fat), relative to a heart-healthy diet (HHD; high in unrefined carbohydrates, polyunsaturated fat and fiber, and low in cholesterol) on brain microvessel transcriptomics and brain metabolomics of the temporal region in Ossabaw minipigs. Thirty-two pigs (16 male and 16 females) were fed a WD or HHD starting at the age of 4 months for a period of 6 months.

Protein Biomarkers of Ultra-Processed Food Consumption and Risk of Coronary Heart Disease, Chronic Kidney Disease, and All-Cause Mortality.

Background: There is a need to understand the underlying biological mechanisms through which ultra-processed foods negatively affect health. Proteomics offers a valuable tool with which to examine different aspects of ultra-processed foods and their impact on health.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to identify protein biomarkers of usual ultra-processed food consumption and assess their relation to the incidence of coronary heart disease (CHD), chronic kidney disease (CKD), and all-cause mortality risk.

Serum protein responses to Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) and DASH-Sodium trials and associations with blood pressure changes.

Objectives: The Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet reduces blood pressure, but the mechanisms underlying DASH diet-blood pressure relations are not well understood. Proteomic measures may provide insights into the pathophysiological mechanisms through which the DASH diet reduces blood pressure.

Methods: The DASH (1994-1996) and DASH-Sodium (1997-1999) trials were multicenter, randomized-controlled feeding trials.

Effect of daily avocado consumption for 6 mo compared with habitual diet on red blood cell fatty acid profiles and association with cardiometabolic risk factors in individuals with abdominal obesity: a randomized trial.

Background: Avocado intake improves dietary fat quality, but the subsequent impact on red blood cell (RBC) saturated (SFA), monounsaturated (MUFA), polyunsaturated (PUFA), and trans-fatty acid (TFA) composition and association with cardiometabolic health, has not been elucidated.

Objectives: To compare the effect of consuming 1 avocado/d relative to habitual diet (HAB) on RBC-FA profiles, and their association with visceral adiposity and cardiometabolic risk factors (CMRFs) in individuals with abdominal obesity.

Methods: RBC-FA profiling at baseline, 3- and 6 mo was conducted in participants (n = 994) from the Habitual Diet and Avocado Trial (HAT).

Lifestyle factors as determinants of atherosclerotic cardiovascular health.

A sedentary lifestyle, low levels of physical activity and fitness, poor dietary patterns, and psychosocial stress are strongly associated with increased morbidity and mortality from atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD). Conversely, engaging in regular physical activity, maintaining optimal fitness levels, adhering to a heart-healthy dietary pattern, effectively managing body weight, ensuring adequate sleep, implementing stress-reduction strategies, and addressing psychosocial risk factors are associated with a reduced risk of ASCVD. This comprehensive review synthesizes current evidence from large observational studies and randomized controlled trials on lifestyle factors as determinants of ASCVD health.

One Avocado per Day as Part of Usual Intake Improves Diet Quality: Exploratory Results from a Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: Few clinical trials have evaluated diet quality change as a predictor of intervention effectiveness.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to examine changes in the Healthy Eating Index (HEI)-2015 after a food-based intervention, and assess the associations between HEI-2015 change and intervention effects on cardiometabolic risk-related outcomes.

Methods: The Habitual Diet and Avocado Trial was a 26-wk, multicenter, randomized, controlled parallel-arm study.

Monocyte transcriptomic profile following EPA and DHA supplementation in men and women with low-grade chronic inflammation.

Background: Recent data indicate considerable variability in response to very long chain omega-3 fatty acid supplementation on cardiovascular disease risk. This inconsistency may be due to differential effects of EPA vs DHA and/or sex-specific responses.

Methods: Sixteen subjects (eight men and eight women) 50-75 y and with low-grade chronic inflammation participated in a randomized controlled crossover trial comparing 3 g/d EPA, 3 g/d DHA, and placebo (3 g/d high oleic acid sunflower oil).

Food Is Medicine: A Presidential Advisory From the American Heart Association.

Unhealthy diets are a major impediment to achieving a healthier population in the United States. Although there is a relatively clear sense of what constitutes a healthy diet, most of the US population does not eat healthy food at rates consistent with the recommended clinical guidelines. An abundance of barriers, including food and nutrition insecurity, how food is marketed and advertised, access to and affordability of healthy foods, and behavioral challenges such as a focus on immediate versus delayed gratification, stand in the way of healthier dietary patterns for many Americans.

Low-fat diet Redux at WHO.

Worldwide dietary guidelines in the late 20th century promoted a low-fat diet, based, in part, on the notion that dietary fat, the most energy dense macronutrient, causes excess weight gain. However, high-quality evidence accumulating since then refute a direct association between dietary fat and adiposity. Moreover, substitution of carbohydrates for unsaturated fat can increase insulin resistance and cardiometabolic disease, especially among populations with highly prevalent insulin resistance.

Waist-to-height ratio associated cardiometabolic risk phenotype in children with overweight/obesity.

Background: Childhood overweight/obesity has been associated with an elevated risk of insulin resistance and cardiometabolic disorders. Waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) may be a simple screening tool to quickly identify children at elevated risk for cardiometabolic disorders. The primary objective of the present study was to create sex-specific tertile cut points of WHtR and assess its association with Insulin resistance and elevated liver enzyme concentrations in children, factors using cross-sectional data from the randomized, controlled Family Weight Management Study.

Associations of circulating proteins with lipoprotein profiles: proteomic analyses from the OmniHeart randomized trial and the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study.

Background: Within healthy dietary patterns, manipulation of the proportion of macronutrient can reduce CVD risk. However, the biological pathways underlying healthy diet-disease associations are poorly understood. Using an untargeted, large-scale proteomic profiling, we aimed to (1) identify proteins mediating the association between healthy dietary patterns varying in the proportion of macronutrient and lipoproteins, and (2) validate the associations between diet-related proteins and lipoproteins in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study.

Metabolomic Profiles Associated With Blood Pressure Reduction in Response to the DASH and DASH-Sodium Dietary Interventions.

Background: The DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diets reduced blood pressure (BP) in the DASH and DASH-Sodium trials, but the underlying mechanisms are unclear. We identified metabolites associated with systolic BP or diastolic BP (DBP) changes induced by dietary interventions (DASH versus control arms) in 2 randomized controlled feeding studies-the DASH and DASH-Sodium trials.

Methods: Metabolomic profiling was conducted in serum and urine samples collected at the end of diet interventions: DASH (n=219) and DASH-Sodium (n=395).

Identification of Protein Biomarkers of the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension Diet in Randomized Feeding Studies and Validation in an Observational Study.

Background The Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet is recommended for cardiovascular disease prevention. We aimed to identify protein biomarkers of the DASH diet using data from 2 randomized feeding studies and validate them in an observational study, the ARIC (Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities) study. Methods and Results Large-scale proteomic profiling was conducted in serum specimens (SomaLogic) collected at the end of 8-week and 4-week DASH diet interventions in multicenter, randomized controlled feeding studies of the DASH trial (N=215) and the DASH-Sodium trial (N=396), respectively.

Plasma Protein Biomarkers of Healthy Dietary Patterns: Results from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study and the Framingham Heart Study.

Background: Molecular mechanisms underlying the benefits of healthy dietary patterns are poorly understood. Identifying protein biomarkers of dietary patterns can contribute to characterizing biological pathways influenced by food intake.

Objectives: This study aimed to identify protein biomarkers associated with four indexes of healthy dietary patterns: Healthy Eating Index-2015 (HEI-2015); Alternative Healthy Eating Index-2010 (AHEI-2010); DASH diet; and alternate Mediterranean Diet (aMED).

Bitter- and Umami-Related Genes are Differentially Associated with Food Group Intakes: the Framingham Heart Study.

Background: As suboptimal diet quality remains the leading modifiable contributor to chronic disease risk, it is important to better understand the individual-level drivers of food choices. Recently, a genetic component of food choices was proposed based on variants (SNPs) in genes related to taste perception (taste-related SNPs).

Objectives: This study aimed to determine the cumulative contribution of taste-related SNPs for basic tastes (bitter, sweet, umami, salt, and sour), summarized as "polygenic taste scores," to food group intakes among adults.

Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Consumption and Plasma Lipoprotein Cholesterol, Apolipoprotein, and Lipoprotein Particle Size Concentrations in US Adults.

Background: Prospective cohort studies have found a relation between sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption (sodas and fruit drinks) and dyslipidemia. There is limited evidence linking SSB consumption to emerging features of dyslipidemia, which can be characterized by variation in lipoprotein particle size, remnant-like particle (RLP), and apolipoprotein concentrations.

Objectives: To examine the association between SSB consumption and plasma lipoprotein cholesterol, apolipoprotein, and lipoprotein particle size concentrations among US adults.

The Associations of Individual and Subclasses of Nonesterified Fatty Acids With Disability, and Mobility Limitation in Older Adults: The Cardiovascular Health Study.

Background: We sought to determine the associations between individual nonesterified fatty acids (NEFAs) and disability and mobility limitation.

Methods: We studied 1 734 participants in the Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS), an ongoing population-based cohort study of community-living older American adults. We measured 35 individual NEFA species in fasting serum samples obtained at the 1996-1997 clinic visit.

Effect of Incorporating 1 Avocado Per Day Versus Habitual Diet on Visceral Adiposity: A Randomized Trial.

Background Excess visceral adiposity is associated with increased risk of cardiometabolic disorders. Short-term well-controlled clinical trials suggest that regular avocado consumption favorably affects body weight, visceral adiposity, and satiety. Methods and Results The HAT Trial (Habitual Diet and Avocado Trial) was a multicenter, randomized, controlled parallel-arm trial designed to test whether consuming 1 large avocado per day for 6 months in a diverse group of free-living individuals (N=1008) with an elevated waist circumference compared with a habitual diet would decrease visceral adiposity as measured by magnetic resonance imaging.