Avocado oil: What is avocado oil good for?

Avocado oil; what are the benefits? Composition and calorie content of fruit oils. Valuable properties, possible contraindications. How to use avocado oil, recipes. Interesting facts.

Avocado oil is not only a cosmetically active product but also a cold-pressed food. It is interesting that the pulp of the plant is used as raw material, not the seeds. Even the ancient Indians considered the fruit a source of health and longevity. Still, the use of avocado oil on an industrial scale only began in the 1980s. The product from Chile is considered to be of high quality. The taste of the substance is delicate with a strong, pleasant aroma. Most avocado oil reviews are positive. But to appreciate the benefits and taste of avocado oil for food, you must prepare carefully for the first tasting.

Composition and calorie content of avocado oil

Today can purchase avocado oil at supermarkets and local health food stores. The energy value of the product is very high, and this indicator can fluctuate by less than 20%, depending on the producer, the basis of production, and the processing technology of the fruit.

The calorie content of avocado oil is, on average, 900 kcal per 100 g (3766 kJ).

You can find edible avocado oil on store shelves with a declared calorie content of 130 kcal per 100 g of product. The amount of fat in such a product is reduced with the help of unique technology and the number of valuable elements.

100 g of the product is 100 g of high-quality fat. Avocado oil contains:

• Monounsaturated fat – 76%;
• Polyunsaturated – 12%;
• Saturated – 12%.

Monounsaturated fats are based on omega-9 fatty acids. And although acid is not irreplaceable, it is difficult to overestimate the importance of its external intake.

Polyunsaturated fats contain Omega-3 and Omega-6, which significantly increase the benefits of avocado oil despite their relatively small amounts.

There is only 1.6 g of saturated fat in 1 tablespoon of the product, four times less than butter and 7 times less than coconut oil. This amount of saturated fat is recommended as a minimum in the diet of those who follow a healthy lifestyle.

Cold-pressed technology also allows you to preserve the maximum amount of valuable elements in the product, which determine the favorable properties of avocado oil.

The main valuable substances in the product are:

• Alpha-tocopherol – an active antioxidant that belongs to vitamins of group E. In 1 g of the product, up to 0.07 micrograms of alpha-tocopherol are present at a daily intake of 10 mg from the entire group E.
• Lutein – is a universal molecular structure with a wide range of actions on the human body, the key among which is the prevention of natural aging.
• Chlorophyll – a substance called green erythrocytes in some sources.
• Beta-sitosterol – is a nutrient that is not synthesized by the human body.

The product is unique in its composition; it is not surprising that avocado oil prices are relatively high because it can only longer find such a combination of elements in nature and among synthetic food supplements.

What is avocado oil good for?

The ancient Aztecs knew the benefits of the fruit, calling it the “fruit of immortality,” the “elixir of youth.” With the help of modern research, it has been possible to prove some truth in such names. The beneficial properties and uses of avocado oil are due to its unique composition.

So monounsaturated fat inhibits the absorption of bad cholesterol through the walls of the small intestine and also normalizes the level of good cholesterol in the blood. Chemical balance helps to clean blood vessels and, as a result – normalizes heart function and reduces the risk of blood clots. Recent research also shows an increase in insulin sensitivity with a decrease in dietary carbohydrates and an increase in monounsaturated fat. That is, it is recommended to buy avocado oil for food for diabetics of the second type or at the initial stage of the development of this disease.

The World Health Organization recommends reducing the intake of saturated fat in the diet to 5% of total fat. Generally, such fat is found in animal feed, except avocado fruit, but in the latter in much smaller doses. Switching to saturated vegetable fats reduces the risk of death from cardiovascular disease by 30%.

Alpha-tocopherol and carotenoids are natural antioxidants that prevent free radicals from entering cells and protect against premature aging. Carotenoids, which include lutein, have slightly increased antioxidant properties. Carotenoids inhibit the process of malignant transformation of cells, prevent premature aging, and stimulate the immune system. And lutein specifically reduces the risk of developing age-related cataracts in humans. At the same time, the human body does not produce carotenoids; the regular external intake is necessary.

Along with the active activity of antioxidant complexes in the body, which do not allow free radicals to enter cells, it is necessary to use chlorophyll. The substance stimulates the body’s protective functions, tones the cell walls, thus on a physical level, and equalizes the chances of free radicals getting through. What makes avocado helpful oil is its complex composition. The oil contains antioxidants, chlorophyll, and healthy fats.

However, the most valuable health benefits of avocado oil were discovered by scientists in the early 2000s. A published article in the American Journal of Nutrition (2005) confirms that avocado oil benefits food. The oil is used together with vegetables and stimulates the absorption of carotenoids not only from its composition but also from the composition of vegetables. In this case, only 1-2 tablespoons of oil are enough to stimulate absorption.

Thus, the product will be helpful in the following disturbances:

• Blockage of blood vessels and increased risk of thrombosis;
• Violation of the functioning of the cardiovascular system;
• The risk of degeneration of cells into malignant forms;
• Premature aging.

Buying avocado oil and regularly adding it to your diet is recommended for anyone who cares about health.

Important! In the case of diseases, the foods can be recommended for consumption, but only as a supplement to the existing treatment by the doctor.

Contraindications and harm of avocado oil

The benefits and harms of avocado oil are very relative terms. After all, high-quality food can only support a healthy body but is not a substitute for treatment if needed. The only harm from avocado oil is only possible if individuals cannot tolerate any of the product’s ingredients.

The harm of avocado oil will also appear with high consumption. If you overdo it with salad dressing, you risk irritating the digestive tract. Food allergies to this product are infrequent, especially for residents of our latitudes. But irritation occurs regularly in those who do not control the doses.

To avoid harming a completely safe product, monitoring it and what portions you eat is essential.

Features of the use of avocado oil in cooking

It is common for cooks to be asked how to use avocado oil. The answer is simple being deadly – just like domestically grown oil. You can use avocado oil for frying, or it can be consumed raw.

To maximize the benefits of the food consumed, it is still recommended to give a raw food diet a choice. The vitamins in avocado oil do not survive after they have been cooked.

When working thermally with any oil, it is necessary to know the smoke point. This term refers to the temperature at which fat begins to oxidize. This indicator will depend on the cleaning, the type of ingredients used for the frame, and the manufacturing technology. If the product contains many fatty acids, it should not be heated, as the oil starts to smoke early.

The best avocado oil contains a small percentage of such acids (up to 0.5%), so it can be handled safely, given that some beneficial properties disappear. The smoke point of the product will be 250-270. С. And although vegetable oil, after processing, loses many of its properties, it will be many times more valuable than coconut or butter.

Avocado oil recipes

Suppose you are ready to buy edible avocado oil and use it in your cooking experiments. In that case, we first recommend simple dishes based on it:

• Pumpkin soup with butter … Heat 2 tablespoons in a pan. Avocado oil and fry 1 finely chopped onion sprinkled with half a teaspoon of turmeric. Frying is carried out until the onion is transparent (no more than 1 minute with constant stirring). Meanwhile, in a pot of water at room temperature, heat and boil 250g grated pumpkin, 2 cups lentils, and 3 cups grated carrots. Salt and pepper the soup. When the water boils, reduce the heat to medium and cook for another 15 minutes. We fill the casserole with frying oil and onions and simmer until the lentils start to crumble. The finished soup is ground in a blender and served with lemon wedges on a separate plate. If desired, guests can squeeze the lemon juice into the soup.
• Chicken thighs in wine … For the marinade, add 2 lemons, sage (1 tablespoon), a head of garlic, salt, and pepper to taste in 50 ml of oil, finely chopped into rings. Leave 3 chicken thighs in the marinade for at least 1 hour. To soak the meat, we separate the drumsticks and the hams. Fry the marinated meat in a pan and then put it in a pot or baking container; fill it with a glass of white wine. Put the chicken in an oven heated to 200 ° C without covering it with a lid. After 10 minutes, reduce the heat to 180 ° C, add 2.5 cups of warm water and bake with a top; bake for another 30 minutes. Then bake for another 10 minutes, so the chicken is covered with a golden crust.
• Prawns with vegetables … Peel 750 g of prawns and boil in boiling broth. 1 bell pepper, 2 tomatoes, washes garlic cloves and cut into small cubes, add finished shrimp. Pour the shrimp with 6 tablespoons of avocado oil and the juice of 6 limes, salt, and pepper and let it brew for three hours: Fry one small onion and 3 finely chopped carrots in fruit oil at a low temperature. Then add shrimp and vegetables to the pan. The dish is served both hot and cold.
• “Greek” salad with avocado oil … The dish, which is well known to many homemakers, is recommended to be seasoned not with olive oil but with a mixture of lemon juice and avocado oil. To dress 50 g of lettuce, 50 g of the rocket, one cucumber and one tomato, olives, and 100 g of feta cheese, you need to take the juice of half a lemon and 2 tbsp. Oils.
• Vegetable salad … We wash and cut into large cubes 5 tomatoes and two cucumbers. Add sliced ​​radish and onion to the vegetables. Sprinkle the salad with 1 tbsp: finely chopped parsley, salt, and pepper. Avocado oil and juice from half a lemon are used for dressing. Vegetable salad is served in portions; we decorate the dish with finely grated or sliced ​​hard cheese (up to 100 g) before serving.

Avocado oil is widely used for cooking in Mediterranean cuisine. Still, thanks to its taste, you can adapt well-known European homemade recipes.

Attention! The flavor of avocado oil is delicate and light despite being the purest fat, so drops of liquid are used to garnish hot dishes. For example, pumpkin cream soup on each plate is decorated separately with a sprinkle of paprika and drops of oil, which in this case will garnish the dish but will not significantly affect its taste.

Interesting facts about avocado oil

Archaeological research has shown that used the fruit for food 10 thousand years ago. In 500 BC., the first attempts were made to cultivate the plant. But avocados did not reach Europe until the 16th century after the Spanish began their expansion in Latin America. Even then, an oil crisis hit.

The fruit is called differently in different countries: American Perseus – in the USA, alligator pear in Great Britain, and “poor cow” – in India. The Indians gave the fruit its name because it resembled the male genitalia. In a simplified transliteration, avocado means “testicle tree.”

The first fruits were small – up to 4 cm in length, of which 2 cm was occupied by bone. Still, breeders managed to breed large-fruited varieties that are inferior to the ancestral tree. It is a cultivar whose mass of pulp reaches 200-400 g and is used to squeeze oil.

In the 1990s, the fruit was listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the most nutritious in the world. So in avocado oil, there is more vitamin E than in other types of oil. In terms of the value of fat, the product is not inferior to fish, so it is recommended that vegans use it.

The choice of liquid should be based on color and cooking technique. The benefits of properties are considered cold pressed avocado oil. It has a rich color with a light yellow-green tone. But avocado oil of pure yellow probably contains additives; it is not recommended to eat it.

Conclusion

Avocado oil is not a newborn fetish for apologists for a healthy diet but an actual healthy fruit whose value has been proven through fruit studies. In addition to the fact that avocado oil has many benefits for the body, it has almost no contraindications. To appreciate the excellent taste of the product, you need to choose a good oil and prepare a simple dish. And over time, you can replace less valuable butter with fruit oil.