Olive oil and avocado oil are beneficial to your overall health and are often praised for their various uses. People enjoy benefits like producing healthier skin, fighting against heart disease, and providing essential healthy fats in nutrition efforts. But there’s a constant tug-of-war between which oil is better for your overall health, which helps you achieve your fitness goals faster, helping you better maintain a healthy nutrition plan.
Avocado oil and olive oil harbor significant differences from one another regarding how they’re made, the health benefits they provide, and how they’re used. In addition to becoming knowledgeable about each oil, it’s important to note which oil may be most beneficial to your individual lifestyle behaviors and overall body functions.
Let’s chat about some information most important to understand the benefits of olive oil and avocado oil and then determine which is better for your growing health.
Avocado Oil
Learning about avocado oil is essential to making an informed decision about which oil is better for you. Here is a concise overview of avocado oil and what you can expect regarding its health benefits.
What is avocado oil?
Avocado oil is derived from the avocado fruit, carefully pressed, and extracted to form the oil we all know and love. Avocados grow well in warm temperatures and subtropical climates, establishing their roots primarily in Central America, New Zealand, and the United States.
We usually find ourselves choosing between unrefined avocado oil or refined avocado oil. Unrefined avocado oil is usually associated with being pressed from the high-quality avocado fruit, while refined avocado oil uses extraction methods that include mechanical components and chemical solvents.
What are the health benefits?
The health benefits of avocado oil are enormous. You can expect avocado oil to offer the following health benefits:
- Aids in nutrient absorption
- Lowers the threat of heart disease
- Promotes healthy blood pressure range
- Improves cognitive health
- Prevents osteoporosis
- Battles eyes disease
- Prevents periodontal disease
- Promotes healthy skin
How is it used?
Avocado oil is used in cooking, topicals, and medications for the most part. You can add avocado oil to just about any meal for flavor, which provides the health benefits mentioned above.
In addition to adding avocado oil to sauteed vegetables, dipping sauces, or soups, it can be used as a topical medication for various skin issues, including acne, inflammation, and scarring. You’ll want to make sure you’re using a high grade of avocado oil on your skin to ensure it doesn’t have any adverse effects.
You can also find avocado extracts and oils in medications to help with health issues related to arthritis, eye health, and heart health.
Olive Oil
For this article’s purposes, we also need to know the basics of olive oil to make an informed decision about which oil is better for you. Here is a concise overview of olive oil and what you can expect regarding its health benefits.
What is olive oil?
Olive oil is the oil that comes from the fruit of the olive tree (olives). When olives are pressed successfully, the oil is extracted and then used for a variety of purposes. It finds its roots planted in the Mediterranean region.
We’re usually choosing between extra virgin and virgin olive oil; the former containing more antioxidants and purity standards than the latter, which undergoes more processing and introduces other chemical additives into the oil.
What are the health benefits?
Just like avocado oil, olive oil finds itself at the center of a variety of health benefits. You can expect the following health benefits from olive oil:
- Protects the body from cellular damage
- Fights cardiovascular diseases
- Prevents stroke and other brain dysfunction
- Fights specific types of cancerous cells
- Provides additional protection for the nervous system
- It is useful in fighting depression and anxiety
- Promotes healthy skin
- Decreases high blood pressure
- Fights high blood sugar levels
How is it used?
Olive oil is also used in cooking, medications, skincare, and cosmetics. Many people use olive oil as the base to start cooking with and add it to just about any food for flavor and other cooking benefits.
Avocado oil is also added to various skin care and cosmetic products to promote healthy skin, fight acne, inflammation, and scarring, and ensure their cosmetics are doing more good than harm to the skin. You’ll want to make sure you’re using a high grade of olive oil on your skin, just like avocado oil, to ensure it doesn’t have any adverse effects.
Olive oil vs. Avocado oil-Which is better For You?
After reading the above information on each oil, you’re probably wondering which oil benefits you the most. The honest answer is that they both can be deemed good for you. To determine which is better for your overall health, you’ll need to factor in how well your body responds to either based on your individual DNA makeup, your nutrition regimen, and overall health and wellness behaviors.
Simply consuming avocado oil or olive oil isn’t going to give you a definite answer on which oil is better for you. Each provides their own independent health benefits, and this should be a decision based on your individual health and wellness goals and how your body functions.
Examples To Further This Point:
If you’re looking to increase your Vitamin E intake, you’ll explore using avocado oil AND olive oil in your diet because they both contain hefty amounts of Vitamin E. As you further your research, you’ll find that olive oil actually contains slightly more Vitamin E than avocado oil. Therefore, it may look for additional ways to implement this specific oil into your diet.
If you’re looking to improve how dry, chapped, or damaged your skin is, you’ll probably want to use more products with avocado oil to promote faster healing and softness. If you’re looking to improve acne, acne scars, or inflammation, olive oil has long been used in skincare products that resolve these skin challenges.
Key Takeaways
Avocado oil is from the avocado fruit and intricately pressed to produce unrefined and refined oil bases. It can be used for various health benefits that include promoting healthy skin, aiding in optimal eye health, and preventing certain cardiovascular challenges. Avocado oil is used in a variety of cooking techniques, medications, and topical skincare solutions.
Olive oil is made from pressed olives that are the highest in quality in the Mediterranean area. We choose from extra virgin or virgin olive oil and use it either in cooking, medicine, skincare, and cosmetics. Olive oil also has powerful health benefits that include stroke prevention, additional protection for the nervous system, and fighting against certain cancerous cells.
When determining whether avocado oil or olive oil is best for you, it’s best practice to consider your individual lifestyle behaviors, overall health, and wellness goals, as well as the way your individual body functions and its response to each oil.