It’s common knowledge that avocado, like kale, is a “superfood”: The massive quantity of nutrients found inside is enough to completely turn your day around, whether you’re having the fleshy green fruit itself or a smoothie containing it. But something people often overlook is the sizable obstacle to its immediate consumption – the seed.
While scientists look for the next big superfood to turn into a trend, everyone else should focus on getting as much as possible out of one that’s already well-known. Research now shows avocado pits are just as valuable, if not more so, than the fruit that enfolds them.
Few people know about these secret benefits, most likely because avocado seeds are so difficult to crack open that the majority of avocado fans don’t bother paying much attention to them. But nothing worth having comes easy, and the benefits of avocado seeds are worth the effort.
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Daily Superfood Love reveals something that might convince even the laziest among us: The avocado’s seed houses more than 70 percent of the fruit’s total amount of antioxidants. As such, the fleshy part we’re used to eating only represents a small portion of the nutrients we’re supposed to be ingesting from avocados. Here are a few examples of what the seeds can do for you.
Arthritis and joint pain
Daily Superfood Love reports that the seeds (and skin) of avocados contain catechins and procyanidins, which are antioxidants that lower inflammation, swelling and stiffness in joints — an excellent weapon against arthritis.
Digestion
Avocado seeds contain plenty of fiber, Daily Superfood Love says, which help you feel more satisfied with your meals in general. In addition, they help keep your blood sugar under control, which will hopefully smother that daily urge to devour all the chocolate in your house.
Skin and hair
The antioxidants in avocado seeds can fix damage to your skin cells and help create collagen, Daily Superfood Love indicates. In addition to that, Step to Health says it’s great for dry, dandruff-heavy hair. Combining the seed’s contents with castor oil can help make your hair more lustrous.
How to get all these benefits
So how exactly do you get inside that hard shell? First, remove the seed from the rest of your avocado half by smacking a knife into it to lodge it in there. Twist the knife and pull to remove the seed without destroying the fruit’s flesh. Daily Superfood Love then recommends going at the seed with a strong, sharp knife swing and then chopping it into pieces, but that technique can be both difficult and dangerous.
LiveStrong recommends putting the seed through a food processor instead — though, again, you’ll need something very strong and reliable to accomplish the task. The powder that results from a chopped-up seed can then be used in smoothies, like in the example above. Step to Health also suggests grating the seed and using the result in infusions.
A small closing note: Because your body may not be used to consuming avocado seeds, you may experience some “gastric distress” at first, Science Update reports. That said, the seed is altogether not a health risk — quite the contrary. So have at it, and make sure to let all your friends know about its benefits by sharing this article!
