It has been on my radar for nearly 10 years now that some people keep their avocado pits, create a paste like texture with them and consume it. Throughout those years of being aware that this is in fact a thing I have been asking health, wellness, and culinary professionals from all different backgrounds what they thought of this practice.

Almost everyone told me to please stay away from consuming the pit. It is a seed, instead if I wanted I could learn how to plant it and grow my own. There is a lot of possibly dangerous bacteria inside the seed. Since it is just simply the seed it actually lacks nutrients compared to the fruitful product that occurs with planting. I also want to share that people who told me to use the avocado pit had a slightly similar response with different results. Eat the seed because it is THE seed, THE mother of it all. The seed has all the dense nutrients. It is less wasteful and a more whole foods based approach to eating.

In culinary school, we are advised to not consume them and even the California Avocado Board has created multiple publications asking consumers to ditch their pits.

As more videos of how to properly treat and blend avocado pits have appeared, I’ve been asking even more questions and have had more luck this time around with finding scientific studies of what happens if the avocado seed is consumed. All studies note you have been done in scientific labs, not as a clinical study. They are of the avocado pit extract, not the recommended peel, cook and blend the avocado pit technique most of us have been seeing. The avocado seed extract is toxic, this a length of time of consumption for it to be seen as a hazard. If you are interested in reading more about this here is the link.

I’m going to share my personal view-point and go back into sharing studies, facts, the pit of it all 😉

I understand that the bacteria in the pit is not considered harmful to humans, but I also consider many of the compounds of the seed to have a more ritual, ceremonial, and medicinal purpose. I am by no means a doctor or scientist, just me personally, I believe consuming avocado seeds should not be an everyday part of ones routine/lifestyle. Even the leaves that are toxic to humans, have been shown to also have a medicinal quality when treated in a specific way. The Garvan Institute of Medical Research has shed some light on this potential therapy, read more here.

In some cultures avocado seeds are seeing as being a strong Chi power, they may assist with healing from the flu or cold at a quicker pace. In South America, avocado pits are a possible treatment for inflammation, diabetes and hypertension. The seed contains phenolic compounds, which are known to prevent cancer, cardiovascular disease and other degenerative illnesses.

Otherwise, a lot of what being said about avocado pits is a lot of he/she said this and that. There is not enough hard evidence to prove anything. I personally see some sort of potential with avocado pits because they have been used for many years as a folk remedy. But until more studies, evidence and understanding have been created I’m on the fence. With that being mentioned, folk remedies also do not have formal records to scientific lab evidence to help clear the topic.

I haven’t read any findings stating factually that the pit has nutrients and compounds that aren’t found in the avocado flesh. The health fats, fibers, phenolic and so forth that these articles mention are found in the yummy green avocado meat too.

So what am I saying? Use your own personal judgement. If you are a person who cares about scientific studies, do not use the avocado seed. Please do not consider using avocado pits in your food just because you saw it on a video via social media. Countless times I have noticed most of these videos or visuals sharing “health tips” do not have the correct information. The process mentioned to peel, cook, blend, powder the avocado pit is extremely time-consuming. How about we just go on enjoying the green, smooth accessible part of our avocados 😉

I hope this helpful with stressing the point that we all need to make our own decisions. The facts most likely won’t be the easy to find FaceBook articles or visual charts on social networks. We all need to keep asking, searching. In relation with food, there truly hasn’t been enough funding to support research that isn’t from a source with it’s own business in mind. Wishing you all the courage, strength and grace to be curious. Much love ❤ and raw power 😉

x Jess