SCRUTINY

Avocado Oil (Persea americana Oil)

 

The avocado tree is native to Mexico and is in the same Lauraceae family of flowering plants as cinnamon, camphor, and bay laurel. It has been used by humans for food since prehistory, with evidence from caves in Puebla, Mexico dating to 10,000 BC showing avocado fruit used by humans as food. The avocado fruit is actually a large, dark green berry containing a single seed with yellow surrounding flesh and a green shell. It is high in monounsaturated fats, mostly constituted by palmitic acid, palmitoleic acid, stearic acid, oleic acid, linoleic acid, and linolenic acid.

 

In skincare, the oil of the avocado is used extensively for its moisturizing and deep penetration proprieties. It is high in sterolins, which help calm sunburn and are purported to accelerate the elimination of hyperpigmentation (freckles, "age apots," etc.) from the skin. Though it is not traditionally thought of as having a direct impact on skin elasticity, there is some evidence from research done in Israel that demonstrates that avocado oil may have a positive influence on increasing collagen synthesis in the skin. It additionally has a calming effect on inflammation and is often used on psoriasis and eczema conditions to sooth redness and irritation.