Avocados are a great source of vitamins and minerals, because of this, oil extracted from the fruit is also known to be heart-healthy and high in Vitamin E. Just like olive oil, avocado oil is a great source of monosaturated fatty acids. But did you know, that some avocado oil brands in the market today have no avocado content at all?
In the United States, 82% of avocado oil is sold either stale or mixed with other oils. According to the University of California Davis, there are three bottles labeled as avocado oil that do not have any avocado at all.
The Breakthrough of Avocado Oil
As stated by market research firm Nielsen, every packaged product promoting avocado oil has risen in sales by more than 30% between 2016 and 2018. Expanding in marketability, avocados are popularly known as a heart-healthy substitute to other cooking oils and an increasingly often alternative for butter in baked goods and vegetable oils in mayonnaise and margarine. (Source: The Source)
Does Avocado Oil Products Prove Its Quality?
Would you believe that some products containing avocado oil being sold in grocery stores are actually rancid?
In recent studies supervised by the University of California, researchers tested 22 commercially available samples of extra virgin, virgin, and refined avocado oil for quality and purity. The researchers also extracted their avocado oil as a baseline for the pure product.
The research team discovered that 82% of the oils they tested have gone rancid even before their expiration date or had other cheaper oils mixed into the bottle. Bottles labeled as avocado oils actually contain a different oil entirely; this happens in three instances.
When you go to the store, you’re buying based on what’s on the label. The consumers should be able to trust that labeling and get the product that is reflected on the label.
Selina Wang, a food science professor at UC-Davis and co-author of the study
(Source: TheSource)
How Does the Quality of Oil Degrade Over Time?
Oils, as might be expected, go through a chemical reaction recognized as oxidation when displayed to oxygen. This process degrades the oil’s quality over time and eventually leads to an unpleasant stale smell.
The research discovered that fifteen of the twenty-two samples had oxidized before their published best-by dates. Which can result from several factors; inadequate packaging is one reason because dark and glass bottles slow down oxidation compared to plastic and clear ones; or the usage of low-quality fruit.
Having said that, because avocado oil is continuing to be a relatively new product on supermarkets’ shelves and grocery aisles, there’s a lot that researchers and scientists are still learning about its composition.
Nevertheless, you can’t set a fatty acid content minimum for extra virgin avocado oil until you know what’s typical for avocados, which can vary based on a growing region and climate. Like the genuine liquid gold, that means avocado oil might retain a bit of mystery for now.
(Source: The Source)