P. americana, or the avocado, originated in the state of Puebla, Mexico. The native, undomesticated variety is known as a criollo, and is small, with dark black skin, and contains a large seed. The oldest evidence of avocado use was found in a cave located in Coxcatlán, Puebla, Mexico, that dates to around 10,000 BC. The avocado tree also has a long history of cultivation in Central and South America; a water jar shaped like an avocado, dating to AD 900, was discovered in the pre-Incan city of Chan Chan. The earliest known written account of the avocado in Europe is that of Martín Fernández de Enciso (c.1470–c.1528) in 1518 or 1519 in his book, Suma De Geographia Que Trata De Todas Las Partidas Y Provincias Del Mundo. The first written record in English of the use of the word 'avocado' was by Hans Sloane in a 1696 index of Jamaican plants. The plant was introduced to Indonesia in 1750, Brazil in 1809, the Levant in 1908, and South Africa and Australia in the late 19th century.
The tree grows to 20 m (66 ft), with alternately arranged leaves 12 centimetres (4.7 in) – 25 centimetres (9.8 in) long. The flowers are inconspicuous, greenish-yellow, 5 millimetres (0.2 in) – 10 millimetres (0.4 in) wide. The pear-shaped fruit is 7 centimetres (2.8 in) – 20 centimetres (7.9 in) long, weighs between 100 grams (3.5 oz) – 1,000 grams (35 oz), and has a large central seed, 5 centimetres (2.0 in) – 6.4 centimetres (2.5 in) long.
The subtropical species needs a climate without frost and with little wind. High winds reduce the humidity, dehydrate the flowers, and affect pollination. When even a mild frost occurs, premature fruit drop may occur, although the Hass cultivar can tolerate temperatures down to −1°C. The trees also need well-aerated soils, ideally more than 1 m deep. Yield is reduced when the irrigation water is highly saline. These soil and climate conditions are available only in a few areas of the world, particularly in southern Spain, Portugal, Morocco, Crete, the Levant, South Africa, Colombia, Peru, parts of central and northern Chile, Vietnam, Indonesia, parts of southern India, Sri Lanka, Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Malaysia, Central America, the Caribbean, Mexico, California, Arizona, Puerto Rico, New Mexico, Texas, Florida, Hawaii, Ecuador and Rwanda. Each region has different types of cultivars.
The species is only partially able to self-pollinate because of dichogamy in its flowering. This limitation, added to the long juvenile period, makes the species difficult to breed. Most cultivars are propagated via grafting, having originated from random seedling plants or minor mutations derived from cultivars. Modern breeding programs tend to use isolation plots where the chances of cross-pollination are reduced. That is the case for programs at the University of California, Riverside, as well as the Volcani Centre and the Instituto de Investigaciones Agropecuarias in Chile.
The avocado is unusual in that the timing of the male and female flower phases differs among cultivars. There are two flowering types, "A" and "B". "A" cultivar flowers open as female on the morning of the first day and close in late morning or early afternoon. Then they open as male in the afternoon of the second day. "B" varieties open as female on the afternoon of the first day, close in late afternoon and reopen as male the following morning.
"A" cultivars: Hass, Gwen, Lamb Hass, Pinkerton, Reed.
"B" cultivars: Fuerte, Sharwil, Zutano, Bacon, Ettinger, Sir Prize, Walter Hole.
Certain cultivars, such as the Hass, have a tendency to bear well only in alternate years. After a season with a low yield, due to factors such as cold (which the avocado does not tolerate well), the trees tend to produce abundantly the next season. In addition, due to environmental circumstances during some years, seedless avocados may appear on the trees. Known in the avocado industry as "cukes", they are usually discarded commercially due to their small size.
Advantage of Avocado
Avocados have been shown to inhibit the growth of prostate cancer.
Oral Cancer Defense
Research has shown that certain compounds in avocados are able to seek out pre-cancerous and cancerous oral cancer cells and destroy them without harming healthy cells.
Breast Cancer Protection
Avocado, like olive oil, is high in oleic acid, which has been shown to prevent breast cancer in numerous studies.
Eye Health
Avocados have more of the carotenoid lutein than any other commonly consumed fruit. Lutein protects against macular degeneration and cataracts, two disabling age-related eye diseases.
Lower Cholesterol
Avocados are high in beta-sitosterol, a compound that has been shown to lower cholesterol levels. In one study, 45 volunteers experienced an average drop in cholesterol of 17% after eating avocados for only one week.
Heart Health
One cup of avocado has 23% of the recommended daily value of folate. Studies show that people who eat diets rich in folate have a much lower incidence of heart disease than those who don't. The vitamin E, monounsaturated fats, and glutathione in avocado are also great for your heart.
Stroke Prevention
The high levels of folate in avocado are also protective against strokes. People who eat diets rich in folate have a much lower risk of stroke than those who don't. Better Nutrient Absorption Research has found that certain nutrients are absorbed better when eaten with avocado. In one study, when participants ate a salad containing avocados, they absorbed five times the amount of carotenoids (a group of nutrients that includes lycopene and beta carotene) than those who didn't include avocados.
Glutathione Source
Avocados are an excellent source of glutathione, an important antioxidant that researchers say is important in preventing aging, cancer, and heart disease.
Vitamin E Powerhouse
Avocados are the best fruit source of vitamin E, an essential vitamin that protects against many diseases and helps maintains overall health.
Avocado Oil
Like olive oil, avocado oil is predominantly monounsaturated, a property which is thought to confer distinct health benefits. The avocado as a refined cooking oil has additional advantages (Swisher, 1988).
It is unusually light, so it mixes well with other foods.
It has a mild, delicate flavor, which enhances and brings out the flavor of other foods, instead of dominating them such as olive oil and other oils.
Avocado oil withstands a high cooking temperature before breaking down, i.e. its "smoke point" is about 255C (490F), which is much higher than that of olive oil.
Fried foods presently have an undesirable health reputation, but use of olive and avocado oil could change that.
Hair Effect of Avocado Oil
Hair Growth Nutrients
The monounsaturated fatty acid content in avocado oil is even higher than extra virgin olive oil and is one of the main reasons it is so good for your hair. Many people’s hair is dry, damaged and weak from poor nutrition, heat styling, chemical treatments and environmental pollution. Monounsaturated fats, when applied directly in a hair mask, can moisturize, nourish and strengthen hair strands, improving the way they look and protecting them from damage.
Avocado oil for hair growth
Massaging avocado oil into your scalp also stimulates blood flow to your hair follicles. With improved blood flow and circulation to the scalp, more nutrients can reach the follicles to stimulate new growth and healthier hair in general.
Finally, and perhaps most beneficially for hair care, its monounsaturated fatty acids, phytosterols and high levels of antioxidants like vitamin E, are well absorbed into our scalp and hair shafts. This not only has a highly moisturizing and protective effect against environmental stressors and damage, it may also stimulate new growth and help unclog blocked follicles.
The combination of antioxidant vitamin E, moisturizing plants sterols and the rich levels of monounsaturated fatty acids in avocado oil, provides three nutrients that have been individually recommended for stimulating hair growth, in one simple, highly absorbable topical treatment.
While there are no clinical trials I’m aware of (and are unlikely to be since pharmaceutical companies can’t patent natural treatments), many people report positive results with using avocado oil for hair growth.
Three Ways to Use Avocado Oil for Better Hair
Applying a good cold pressed avocado oil to your hair will improve its appearance and texture while strengthening and moisturizing the strands. See the page on treatments for some simple homemade ideas that are likely to be far more effective than your expensive store bought conditioners.
Massaging avocado oil into your scalp stimulates circulation and allows it to penetrate in deeply, providing beneficial nutrients, unclogging blocked follicles and, it is reported for many people, stimulating new growth.
Last but not least, use the oil for healthier cooking and as a recipe addition or salad dressing. Good nutrition on the inside can be just as important for strong and healthy hair in the long run.
Skin Effect of Avocado Oil
Avocado Oil Skin Benefits
Skin Benefits from Avocado Oil As healthy as it is on food and as a cooking oil, avocado oil also has some amazing benefits for our skin when used as a natural moisturizer. Ahead is a look at why an increasing number of people are finding it much more effective than those petrochemical-based face creams.
As previously detailed, avocado oil benefits include very high levels of healthy monounsaturated fats, phytosterols and antioxidants like vitamin E. All of these nutrients would be likely to help better your skin tone over time when eaten regularly.
Avocado oil is one of the most penetrative of all natural plant oils. Unlike most moisturizers and many other natural oils, it is believed to penetrate through the epidermis and into the dermis layer of our skin. This results in extremely soft and hydrated facial skin. And, due to its humectant properties that prevent drying out, this moisturizing effect is long-lasting.
A good extra virgin avocado oil is especially useful for a flaking, dehydrated and sun damaged face. While most skin types can see a real benefit from using avocado oil, those with dry or mature skin would be likely to see an even more noticeable difference.
Avocado oil has also been recommended as helpful for acne problems and as a treatment for eczema and psoriasis, with many people online sharing positive results with regular use. When applied topically and consistently, it has even been reported to be effective at reducing age spots and helping to heal minor scarring and more long-term sun damage to our skin.
One of the reasons for all of these skin benefits may be the way it seems to help increase collagen production within the layers of the dermis. Collagen is the connective protein that binds our skin together and youthful skin has high levels of it.
As we age though, this collagen starts to break down due to sun damage, poor nutrition and other environmental factors. Preventing, and perhaps even reversing collagen breakdown may help delay wrinkles and other visible signs of aging.
It would be necessary to have good nutrition as well to increase collagen production. Using your avocado oil on salads, in meals and as a cooking oil would help with this. Fortunately, it tastes great and cold pressed avocado oil is actually superior to extra virgin olive oil in many ways.
How to Apply Avocado Oil as a Face Moisturizer
Avocado Oil Face Looking around your local cosmetic store or supermarket, there is a wide variety of different skin moisturizers. All of them usually promising deeply hydrated, younger looking skin (often at a significant price).
What if there was a natural oil moisturizer that many people, myself included, are having more far more effective results with than the chemical-laden, brand name moisturizers? What if this very same moisturizer was also about the best cooking oil you could use in your kitchen, made an extremely healthy salad dressing and even an exceptional hair treatment?
Sounds too good to be true, but cold pressed avocado oil is all of these things. This page will look at how to apply avocado oil as a face moisturizer. Not only is it extremely good at hydrating and softening our skin, many people are reporting that it is an effective treatment for acne and blackheads, psoriasis and eczema, and even useful for diminishing age spots and mild facial scaring.
Of course it’s important to remember that individual results usually vary greatly depending on your skin type and other factors like nutrition. That said, if your skin is at all sensitive or problematic, it’s got to be beneficial to have one simple, natural oil to use as a face moisturizer, rather than trying to work out which of two dozen different additives might be causing your skin problems.
In the worse case, if your results aren’t as good as many other people’s, you’ve still got avocado oil for cooking, as a salad dressing or for hair treatment.
Personally, since using this cold pressed avocado oil on my face as a moisturizer, in the way I’ll describe ahead, I’ve noticed significant improvements. The skin on my face appears much softer, with a lessening of the lines on my forehead.
Initially I was worried that using it on my face would make it appear greasy, but after it has been absorbed, it’s actually the opposite. It seems my skin is so well hydrated after using avocado oil that it doesn’t need to produce the excess oil that it used to.
Perhaps even more significantly, the pores on my nose and upper cheeks appear visibly reduced and an occasional slight facial redness also appears lessened. My skin wasn’t terrible before by any means (aren’t we always our own worse critics). Avocado oil just seems to have made it much better. The previous page on its skin benefits has the reasons why it is so effective.
Applying Avocado Oil to Your Face
How to Apply Avocado Oil You can apply avocado oil to your face in the same way you would any other moisturizer – with a cotton wool pad or very clean fingers. Make sure your face is washed well and preferably still damp to spread the avocado oil easily.
You use it straight after showering in the evening. You don’t need that much, perhaps a small dab per cheek, forehead, etc. Avocado oil is concentrated monounsaturated fatty acids, phytosterols, vitamin E and other antioxidants. A little goes a long way.
While it is not absorbed as quickly as some moisturizers, it is usually barely noticeable in ten to fifteen minutes. If this bothers you, give it a few minutes to be absorbed, then gently wipe your face with a damp washcloth.
You could use it as a day moisturizer, but because it’s so rich, it seems better as a nightly moisturizer applied before bed.
Some people recommend mixing half cold pressed avocado oil and half sweet almond oil, which is also very beneficial for the skin. Almond oil takes longer to absorb though, so you may want to keep this as an evening moisturizer and use a damp washcloth on your face before your head hits the pillow.
It is important to look for cold pressed avocado oil, and not the cheaper refined oils, if you’re interested in the potential skin restorative properties, rather than just the moisturizing effects. The minimal refinement of cold pressed avocado oil preserves more of the important plant sterols, vitamin E and other antioxidants.
You can also use it as a salad dressing or other recipe addition to get some good internal skin nutrition.
Avocado oil may also be a useful treatment for skin problems like acne and blackheads and even more serious conditions such as psoriasis and eczema. Also ahead in Three Ways to Use Avocado Oil for Acne Problems is a special oil cleaning method. This is another great way to moisturize your face at the same time as clearing up many skin problems.
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