Avocado Leaves: Nutrition and Potential Health Benefits For Kidney health

What are Avocado Leaves?

We all heard of avocado but how many of you familiar with avocado leaves?

It’s pretty straightforward. Avocado leaves are leaves that grow on avocado trees. Used same as bay leaves, avocado leaves are known to be aromatic. Commonly used in low-slow braised Mexican dish, for example mole sauce and tamales.

I never heard of avocado leaves until someone mentioned to me that she used them for cooking. Feeling curious, I look up avocado leaves and interesting enough, I read that it has benefit for kidney stones.

Through research and some digging, I found really interesting facts about them and would love to share them with you all.

Starting with the bigger picture, the nutrition behind the mysterious, avocado leaves.

The Nutrition Behind Avocado Leaves

Research found that avocado leaves are a natural antioxidant. Weirdly enough, USDA has no nutritional value (marked as UNKNOWN) on them. Similarly I found no nutritional value information on nutritionvalue.org and other nutrition value web search Prospre.

There are different types of avocado leaves out there because different avocado fruit genotypes are planted worldwide. The results from these studies have similarities and most agree that avocado leaves are related to more positive effects such as anti-inflammatory, antidiabetic, anticancer, lower cholesterol as well as antihypertensive. 

I decided to make a purchase on Amazon ( “As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases above.”)  and try these organic avocado dry leaves myself and brew them as tea. 

Amazon Link: Organic Avocado leaves 

The avocado leaf tea taste was pleasant and subtle. Aromatic yet calming and soothing. As a tea lover, I quite enjoying the taste.

Potential Health Benefits of Avocado Leaves

On the back of the ingredients, there is no nutritional facts found.

HOWEVER, this brand I bought wrote that Avocado Leaves has “Naturally High In Protein, Fibers, Mineral and AntiOxidant” on the cover.

It also claims to help moisturizes skin, nails, boosting mood and relaxation, helps to lose weight and Enhance immune system.

How true are these claims?  I personally found there are limited recent research on the avocado leaves but so far the findings do sound promising.

My question is: are avocado leaves helped with kidney stones and Urinary Tract Infection (UTI)?

Pharmaceutical research journals mentioned that avocado leaves are used to pass kidney stones and therapeutically treat UTI in countries like Cyprus and Turkey.

To my surprise, the studies were done using the Central & Southern American leaves, which are considered to have more toxic traits (Persea Americana).

Another study by Indonesian Pharmacology reveals that avocado leaf extracts are effective in improving insulin and help control blood glucose. The study was done on diabetic renal rat cells. This is BIG!! It got me pretty excited!

Not only is it possible to treat kidney stones, they are also useful in regulating blood sugar which would prevent chronic kidney disease down the line.

Where To Buy Avocado Leaves

In addition to the Amazon website links I include above, you can also find Avocado leaves at Mexican grocery stores. I also found some at Whole Foods. You might find them in some local organic grocery stores in your neighborhood.

How To Incorporate Avocado Leaves into your Diet

Most research I’ve done in using avocado leave, are used as often for its aroma.

According to most recipe bloggers who had used Avocado leaves, they all suggested to toast the fresh leaves or buy them already dried to save time.

Once its dried, avocado leaves can be added as whole, ground or crumbled to your dish or cooked SPARINGLY since some leaves are significantly more pungent than others.

I am going to give you some tips below on toasting avocado leaves. You can do this easily and FAST with an Iron skillet. I recommend using a comal (Mexican tortilla skillet) that I personally used almost DAILY at home.

I will include the link below to Amazon link if you want to purchase comal. (As an Amazon Associate, I earn commission from qualifying purchases).

Amazon Link: Comal

TIPS: Toasting avocado leaves can be done in a heated flat Iron Skillet (aka comal) by pressing them lightly with a wooden spatula briefly for about 10 seconds. Some also recommend toasting in a natural wood fire with tongs, by passing them over the flame briefly. 

You can even find some YOUTUBE videos on recipes and how to dry avocado leaves or tea recipes. I found this particular video by Rick Bayless: Oaxaca Black Beans with Avocado Leaf is entertaining and useful.

Considerations for Safe Consumption

I must say, READ carefully the origin of these leaves when you buy them. Many articles mentioned that certain avocado leaves cultivated from Guatemala (Persea Americana) are toxic. And the Mexican origin variety (var. drymifolia) are generally safe. 

And one thing to keep in mind that consuming A LARGE AMOUNT OF AVOCADO LEAVES ARE TOXIC (ANIMAL STUDIES ON GOAT WAS DONE) according to NIH.

It’s important to know that while these potential benefits sound promising, more scientific research is needed to ensure the safety of avocado leaves for human consumption.

More importantly, parts of the avocado plant, including the leaves, may contain substances that could be TOXIC in large quantities.

If you are considering using avocado leaves for medicinal purposes, you must consult with your doctor or a qualified herbalist to ensure safety and appropriateness for your specific health needs.

Always keep in mind that individual responses to herbal remedies can vary, and evidence-based approaches are generally preferred.

Summary of Avocado Leaves Nutrition and Benefits

To summarize, avocado leaves has promising potential as anti-inflammatory, to improve insulin regulation and whelp passing kidney stones. Studies were done for these subjects. As far as other claim such as skin, nails enhancement, and improving cholesterol, and how much protein, fibers or other minerals it contain, I’m haven’t found enough research on them. 

Key takeaway for avocado leaves is safe to say that dry avocado leaves are enjoyable in teas, and proven that it can be used in culinary world, just like dry bay leaf. And DO NOT CONSUME THEM IN LARGE AMOUNT due to risk of TOXICITY.

Always stay Informed. And I want to hear from you. Leave a comment below.