Eating Avocado Seeds Could Benefit Your Health, Hair And Skin (Apparently)

You Might Be Throwing The Best Bit Of Your Avocado Away

As avocado fans, we're always disappointed when we've scraped every last scrap of avocado from the peel and our fruity experience is over for another day.

So you can imagine our excitement upon hearing that we can make our avocados last even longer...by eating the seed.

According to One Green Planet, the seed (or stone) is actually "where most of the fruit’s nutritional potential resides".

"The seed holds 70% of the avocado’s antioxidants, including the well-respected polyphenols associated with green tea," the site states.

"It has antioxidants that help regulate intestinal function and have even been shown to prevent tumour growth.

"Additionally, the oil within ups the amount of collagen in our skin, keeping it young and wrinkle-free, as well as shining up the hair so that we remain good-looking, too."

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Chowing down on an avocado seed may sound painful, but according to One Green Planet, if you cut it in quarters and then put it in a blender, it's actually pretty easy to digest.

Nutritionist Charlotte Stirling-Reed says she's never heard of anyone eating avocado seeds before, but in theory it could be beneficial.

"I would agree that the seed is probably full of nutrition - as is the same with a lot of other foods such as the peel from oranges and the seeds from a pumpkin - and we've also known for ages that the skin from veggies like carrots and potatoes is where a lot of the fibre is stored," she tells HuffPost UK Lifestyle.

However, she warns that an avocado seed is unlikely to be "a miracle food that is going to solve all your nutrition problems in one hit".

"If you want to eat it and benefit from a few extra nutrients, antioxidants and fibre, by all means do. But remember that you could easily be getting the nutrients from other food stuffs such as nuts, seeds, berries and other whole foods," she says.

"That said, I'm a big fan of reducing food waste so why not - give the stone a blend and add it to your porridge in the morning."

But Jo Travers of The London Nutritionist isn't as convinced by the claims in the One Green Planet article.

"Avocado seeds seem to have significant amounts of potassium - which is good for blood pressure but is found in nearly all other fruits and veg as well - and soluble fibre, but I can't find any recent research outlining the polyphenol profile, although there does seem to be some agreement about antioxident content," she tells HuffPost UK Lifestyle.

"However, everyone also agrees that avocado seeds don't taste very, nice so maybe there's a more pleasant way to get these benefits.

"Having said that, the seed does make up around 30% of the fruit so it could be argued that it's a bit wasteful to throw it away I suppose."

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