Just when you thought we’d reached peak avocado, a new use for the millennial favourite hits the headlines.
Some people are eating avocado stones for supposed health benefits. While this isn’t a brand new concept, the topic has recently come to the fore on social media.
By rinsing and dehydrating the stone, removing the outer skin, dicing and blitzing in a blender, some food bloggers and avocado enthusiasts claim that the powder can be added to smoothies and baked goods to provide fibre, antioxidants and extra nutrients.
Other advocates claim the stones have anti-inflammatory properties and that the oil content can make hair appear shinier and skin younger.
“I hate wasting food,” vegan blogger Elena Wilkins, who has been eating avocado stones since 2013, told Well+Good.
“One day I was cutting open an avocado, thinking about how much I was going to enjoy it. Imagine my disappointment when I cut it open and saw that most of the avocado was its pit. I was ticked! But that was my ‘aha’ moment.”
The pulverised avocado stone is reportedly bitter to taste so most often consumed with something else to mask the flavour.
But is consuming avocado stones really safe?
There has been little research into whether eating the stone of an avocado is safe or not - most of which has been on the potential benefits of avocado stone extracts rather than the stone itself - but the California Avocado Commission does not recommend it.
“While this is presently a very popular topic and there is a body of evidence looking at extracts of the avocado seed, the fact is there is not enough research to support consuming an avocado seed,” they said.
“The purported health benefits and risks of avocado seed intake are poorly characterised.”
One study from Pennsylvania State University suggested eating avocado stones could help with diabetes and hypertension, but they concluded that “further studies are needed.”
Lead researcher Joshua Lambert advised people remain cautious when it comes to eating avocado stones: “There is no clear recommended dose and consumers should use caution,” he said.
