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Tag: Benefits of Avocado seeds

  • The Seeds Some Still Throw Away Series

    The Seeds Some Still Throw Away Series

    Part 2-Avocado Seed Oil Benefits  in Focus

    By: Mohammed Abu

    After consuming fresh avocado fruits many think they are done and they condemn its seeds to the dust bean as garbage worth only being discarded and nothing more.

    An afterthought approach is needed for one to come to appreciate the hard fact that, one is actually not discarding waste, but rather throwing away a nutrition power house that offers uncountable goodies albeit, out of nativity.

    The avocado seed like many other fruit seeds, is never a waste material that should be left to waste and to become  an environmental hazard but should rather be best appreciated as an  important raw material that could be put to good use for the benefit of humanity.

    It is indeed an invaluable raw material that could be  used to manufacture edible cooking oil, health and beauty care products, food supplements, organic medicinal products for hypertension (supported with scientific research studies results  by Ethiopian scientific researchers on avocado seed use).

    From the emerging Circular economy perspective, the world must strive towards ensuring resource use efficiency and that, nothing should be fancied as waste but rather as raw materials for setting up additional industries in order to generate employment and wealth in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGS)

    Indian organic beauty care producers and their counterparts in other parts of the world, have since unlocked the benefits of avocado seeds oil and therefore aren’t treating the seeds as waste as many still do in Ghana, Africa today.

    For them and many others, avocado seeds are an invaluable raw material for manufacturing useful products with immense benefit to humanity.

    Juicy Chemistry, an Indian organic beauty care products manufacturer producing avocado seed oil based products through a blog article, provides some insights, your favourite, the Ecoenvironews Africa magazine, wish to share with you today. Now read on:

    10 Benefits of Using Avocado Oil for Hair and Skin

    The avocado fruit has various health benefits and its oil is often used in salad dressings, smoothies, and cooking. Avocado oil is rich in β-carotene, lecithin, minerals, and vitamins A, C, D, and E which make it a beneficial addition in your skin care and hair care routines too.

    Cold pressed avocado oil is extracted from the pulp of the avocado fruit which contains about 60% of oil content, making it an abundant source of essential fatty acids such as oleic acid, palmitic acid, palmitoleic acid, linoleic acid, and alpha-linolenic acid. The fruit is first dried and then mechanically pressed to extract the rich oil.

    Since it contains high amounts of essential nutrients, antioxidants, and fats, you can use organic avocado oil for hair care and skin care to utilize its wonderful benefits. It provides emolliency to your skin and is especially nourishing for dry skin and scalp.

    10 Avocado Oil Benefits for Your Skin

    • Moisturizes Dry Skin –

    Using organic avocado oil on your face helps keep it soft and moisturised. It is a rich emollient that helps prevent moisture-loss and keeps your skin’s suppleness intact by forming a protective barrier on the outermost layer.

    • Soothes Inflammation –

    Organic avocado oil has anti-inflammatory properties. It helps reduce signs of inflammation such as itching caused due to eczema, dermatitis, psoriasis, or dry skin.

    • Heals Wounds Faster –

    Studies show that avocado oil can accelerate the wound-healing process. It increases collagen synthesis and reduces skin-irritation which helps your wounds repair faster.

    • Protects Skin from Environmental Damage –

    Daily exposure to ultraviolet radiation, smoke, and pollutants can lead to the formation of free radicals in your skin. Cold pressed avocado oil is rich in antioxidants such as carotenoids, vitamin C and vitamin E that minimise environmental stress on your skin.

    • Soothes Sunburns –

    Cold pressed avocado oil is a rich source of oleic acid, an essential fatty acid that soothes, protects and repairs sunburnt skin. It strengthens your skin’s barrier function, reduces redness, and promotes skin repair to minimise the symptoms of sun damage.

    • Anti-Aging Benefits –

    One of the many benefits of using organic avocado oil on your face is reduced signs of ageing. By fighting off free radicals and increasing collagen synthesis in your skin, it helps reduce fine lines, wrinkles, and dark spots. It also helps retain your skin’s elasticity.

    • Nourishes Chapped Lips –

    If you have dry, chapped lips, cold pressed avocado oil can prevent moisture loss by keeping them well-moisturised. Avocado oil also forms a protective barrier over your lips and protects them from environmental stressors.

    • Improves Scalp Health –

    Using organic avocado oil in hair care helps keep your scalp healthy. Its nutrients nourish the hair follicles while the antioxidants prevent oxidative stress promoting healthy hair growth. Its fatty acids deeply moisturize your scalp to reduce dryness, itching and flaking.

    • Tames Frizzy Hair –

    You can use organic avocado oil in your hair care routine if you have dry, frizzy, and unmanageable hair. The oil forms a protective coating over your hair strands and seals the cuticle to prevent moisture loss. This helps tame flyaways and frizzy hair and makes your hair softer and shinier.

    • Reduces Hair Breakage –

    The nutrients from cold pressed avocado oil repair, protect and strengthen your hair. Using it as a hair oil makes detangling easier and reduces breakage and split ends by moisturising and smoothening dry, brittle hair.

    Different Forms of Avocado Oil

    Avocado oil is a carrier oil and can be applied directly to your skin and hair. It has a light green or emerald green colour and can have a nutty aroma. There are different types of avocado oil available due to variation in extraction techniques, choice of fruits, and levels of processing.

    • Extra virgin avocado oilis considered the best avocado oil in terms of quality since it is made by cold-pressing superior-quality avocado pulp, and no chemical solvents or processing is involved here.
    • Virgin avocado oilis also made through the cold-pressed extraction technique and without any chemical solvents or processing. But the quality of avocados used to extract the oil is lower than the previous variety.
    • Plain avocado oilis the least beneficial for skin care and hair care needs since it is refined. It goes through a deodorisation and bleaching process to alter its colour and smell which deteriorates its nutrient level

    Credit (Juicy Chemistry Blog Article on Avocado Oil)

    Photo: Credit: Modern Ghana Online

     

     

  • The Seeds We Throw Away Series

    The Seeds We Throw Away Series

    Avocado in Focus-Part 1

    By: Mohammed Abu

    Generally, mankind takes seeds of the diverse fruits eaten for granted and are thrown away as thrush after enjoying fruit pulps.

    Rather than treating seeds of fruits as components of waste and the pile up of which sometimes become environmental burdens, the philosophy of the emerging circular economy is that, all waste must rather be treated as raw materials.

    Rather than being regarded as a nuisance, they could be turned into a blessing for the creation of additional industries in other to generate employment and wealth. Resource use efficiency is the major objective of the circular economy concept or otherwise put as circularity.

    Seeds of some fruits could either be turned into teas, soup thickeners, food supplements, cooking oils and could be as well be used for the production of medicines for various ailments, beauty care products among others.

    Avocado is one of the common fruits, the seeds of which plus the outer covers are generally wasted when they could be processed into additional foods and other goodies for human consumption.

     Avocado Seed Benefits: What Researchers Say

    Indeed, a lot of write-ups are available on the internet on avocado seed value but what is more authoritative and conclusive is a research article, titled,” A Review on Avocado Seed: Functionality, Composition, Antioxidant and Antimicrobial Properties” published in the Chemical Science International Journal- July 2019 DOI: 10.9734/CSJI/2019/v27i230112

    The article is co-authored by, Tassew Belete Bahru1*, Zinabwa Hailu Tadele1 and Eyasu Gebrie Ajebe1 1 Department of Chemistry, College of Natural and Computational Science, Wolkite University, Ethiopia.

    This work was carried out in collaboration among all authors. Author TBB designed the study, performed the statistical analysis, wrote the protocol and wrote the first draft of the manuscript. Author ZHT managed the analyses and edited sessions of the study. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

    See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/334653995

    Abstract

    The seed of avocado is considered as one of the non-edible part of the fruit, which are usually discarded as residues and can cause ecological problems. Exploring the possible dietary and therapeutic potentials of especially such underutilized wastes will in addition reduce the possible environmental waste burden.

    The objectives of this review article is to alert the functionality, chemical composition, antioxidant and antimicrobial properties of avocado seed for its use as food and justification for its medicinal use.

    The composition like proximate (protein, fat, ash, moisture, fiber and carbohydreate), minerals (Ca, Zn, K, Na, P, Fe, Cu, Pb and Co), phytochemicals (Flavinoid, Tanine, Saponine, Total phenolics, Antioxidnt capacity, Oxalates, Phytates, Alkaloids) and Vitamins (A, B1, B2, B3, C and E) were reported to be present in the avocado seed in different proportions.

    Some poisonous phytochemicals are present in fresh seeds of avocado and not in the dry seeds, hence recommended to dry the seeds before processing for consumption. Its biological activities such as antioxidant, antihypertensive, fungicidal, larvicidal, hypolipidemic, amoebicidal and giardicidal activities had been reported.

    Therefore, it can be concluded that, the avocado seed is nutritionally valuable as the other parts of the plant based on the phytochemical and nutrients it constitutes. The consumption of avocado seed is recommendable since it has high nutritional contents that make it enough for possible dietary and ethno-medicinal use.

    Conclusion 

    “There were different studies to investigate the benefits of avocado seed as sources of food supplements or medicinal products. As reviewed from different literatures, the avocado seed is not only important for nutritional value, but also applicable for different medicinal purposes. Researchers investigates the nutritional composition: proximate, minerals and antioxidant and antimicrobial properties of the avocado seed.

    “Most of them reported that, it possesses nutritional qualities that may be further investigated for application in food industry rather than constituting waste or nuisance to the environment. Its biological activities such as antioxidant, antihypertensive, fungicidal, larvicidal, hypolipidemic, and recently amoebicidal and giardicidal activities had reported.

    “Therefore, it can be concluded that, the avocado seed is nutritionally valuable as the other parts of the plant based on the phytochemical and nutrients it constitutes. The consumption of avocado seed is recommendable since it has high nutritional contents that make it enough for possible dietary and ethno-medicinal”

    Our scientific researchers have spoken and it is indeed a wake-up call. On this note, your favourite, the Ecoenvironews Africa magazine, under “The Seeds We Throw Away” series would be featuring how avocado seed and various other seeds can be turned into tea, edible oils, paste for use as food supplements, ethnobotanical medicines for hypertension, diabetes and many others. Do make it a point to visit us regularly so you don’t miss out on anything.