
Avocado everything — toast, proposals and hand injuries — has become a defining characteristic of our food culture. Oil, although less of a draw than the fruit itself, has been experiencing its own increase in popularity. Originally a means of squeezing profit out of damaged or otherwise imperfect specimens, avocado oil has expanded from a cosmetics ingredient to a culinary one.
A body of scientific evidence reports myriad health benefits — improved heart health, lessened arthritis symptoms, gum disease prevention — but when it comes to purity and quality, a new study conducted at the University of California, Davis (UC Davis) found that “the vast majority” of avocado oils sold in the U.S. fall short.
According to the study, 82 per cent of commercially available avocado oils had either gone off prior to their best-before dates or had been adulterated with cheaper fats. In their analysis of 22 extra virgin, refined and virgin samples (domestic and imported), 15 were rancid and six had been diluted with other types of oil (including safflower, soybean and sunflower oil). Three of the samples, although labelled avocado, contained a different oil altogether (100 per cent soybean oil). Just two were “pure and nonoxidized,” the researchers said — both of which were refined products made in Mexico, Chosen Foods and Marianne’s Avocado Oil.
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