Is Avocado Oil Good for You? Benefits for Hair, Skin, Cooking, and More

Is Avocado Oil Good for You? Benefits for Hair, Skin, Cooking, and More

avocado oil benefitsAvocados and avocado oil had a slow road to popularity, starting with a rebranding of sorts. There’s a bit of an internet debate around the origin of the word avocado. Some reports say that it came from the word ahuacatl, which is Aztec slang for testicle. As the fruit became more popular, that association wasn’t great for marketing, so farmers changed the name to “avocado” and even petitioned dictionary publishers to update the entry. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.3109/03008209109152159‘>2

  • A skin cream containing avocado oil combined with a few other oils showed antimicrobial effects, specifically against Staphylococcus pseudintermedius and Malassezia pachydermatis https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3614059/‘>4
  • Avocado oil is being explored as a treatment for psoriasis https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0891584989901020‘>6

    If you’re curious of the fatty acid composition of other culinary oils, you can find them in this article.

    Avocado Oil vs Olive Oil

    Avocado oil and olive oil are similar in a lot of ways, but the differences may help you decide which one to pull out of your cabinet for different applications.

    Monounsaturated fat

    Avocado oil and olive oil are both high in oleic acid, a monounsaturated fat, which is the compound that research has shown may help reduce blood pressure, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15814269/‘>8 may benefit the immune system,https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21041432/‘>10

    Antioxidant Content

    Both avocado oil and olive oil contain a range of antioxidants. High-quality, extra-virgin avocado oil contains lutein,https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0738081X08000126‘>12 Olive oil contains vitamin E, beta carotene, lutein, and others that have a range of benefits.