Today's issue is brought to you by Proving Her Wrong

Hey, friend! If you've been buying the chips and mayo that say avocado oil on the front, a new study has some news about what's inside. Only six of the fifty-four products tested were the real thing. We get into what that means, and why it's worth being annoyed without being scared. There's also a look at how avocado oil and olive oil actually compare. Let's get into it!

— Lacey Baier, Dustin Baier

I bought the more expensive chips on purpose.

That's what I keep coming back to. It wasn't a splurge, but a small decision I made in the aisle, over and over, for years. I knew the bag with avocado oil on the front cost more than the bag next to it, and I willingly paid the difference. Same with the mayo. Same with dressing.

And I felt good about it, too, which is the part that really stings.

Then, UC Davis tested it.

Their lab looked at 54 processed foods labeled as made with avocado oil, including chips, mayo, and salad dressing. Of the 54, only 6 actually contained avocado oil. The other 48 were cut with cheaper oils. Chips failed 93 percent of the time. Mayo, 71 percent. And every salad dressing they tested failed. Learn more here →

So: yes. Be annoyed.

You read a label, you did the math, you paid extra, and you didn't get the thing. That's not a feeling; that's a fact.

But I want to be careful about where the irritation goes, because I know what usually happens next.

This is a labeling problem, not a food problem.

What you lost was money, not health. The researchers pointed out that these products cost the same as the olive oil versions or more, so you paid the premium price and got the category nobody's checking. Somewhere in the supply chain, one oil got sold as another. Plenty of the brands may not even know, it seems.

It can be easy to jump into the reflex to now check the oil, only use brands with third-party testing, or to make the dressing yourself from now on.

I get it. A rule feels like control.

But look at the list already. Read the labels. Count the ingredients. Watch the seed oils. Watch the dyes. Watch the microplastics. Hit your protein. Now go verify the oil in a bag of chips.

Nobody can do that. Not me, not you, not the scientist who ran the study.

So here's what I'm doing: almost nothing. I'll buy the regular bag when I want some chips, and I’ll stop paying up for a claim nobody's enforcing. I'll keep olive oil by the stove. It's cheaper, it's actually regulated, and it's pretty much just as good for you.

No new fear, just a detour.

Be mad about it for a minute. Then set it down, because the chips were never the thing keeping you healthy, and they're not the thing standing in your way, either.

Real talk on food, health, and feeling good in your body, no perfection required. Cut through the noise and support Cleanish.

The avocado results got all the coverage, and that makes sense. But, the same study ran a control group on olive oil.

Alongside the avocado products, the lab tested 20 processed foods labeled with olive oil, using identical methods. Only one failed.

The researchers noted that olive oil authenticity has been studied and tested for decades. There are agreed definitions, established methods, and people whose job is checking.

Avocado oil had almost none of that. The money arrived well before the oversight did, and that’s how something like this happened.

Read the trade press write-up of the study →

21 of 36

store-brand avocado oil bottles tested by UC Davis in 2023 came back adulterated, rancid, or inconsistent with the label.

$748M

the estimated size of the global avocado oil market this year, projected to pass one billion dollars within the decade.

48%

of that global revenue comes from North America alone, which is why the American shelf is where the problem shows up first.

Sources: UC Davis private-label bottle study, 2023; Coherent Market Insights market estimate, 2026

I go through what the research actually says on eggs, coconut oil, dark chocolate, cheese, and seven more that picked up a bad reputation they mostly did not earn. Watch on YouTube →

🥨 Less protein, not more, may lead to healthier aging

A review of more than 350 studies suggests that most sedentary people are eating more protein than they need, and that regular exercise, rather than overall activity level, is likely the key factor in whether high protein intake helps or harms.

🧠 Brain immunity may undergo a major midlife overhaul

Around age 50, the immune cells in the brain's memory center start to turn over. Researchers think that's connected to the brain inflammation that shows up in later life.

🩺 Everyone's talking about hormone therapy for menopause. Should I be on it?

A physician on what hormone therapy actually treats, and why major medical groups still don't back it for longevity or heart health.

⏰ A simple routine is linked to less pain and depression

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Proving Her Wrong is Lacey Baier's personal essay newsletter on identity, hiding, and finally showing up as yourself.

By USDA figures, avocado oil is 71 percent monounsaturated fat and olive oil is 73 percent. Same fat, and the avocado version costs more. Avocado oil's one real edge is heat, holding up to about 482°F against 410°F for extra virgin olive oil.

These are reference values for each oil, not measurements of any bottle on a shelf. Smoke points are published as ranges rather than fixed points, so we've given the midpoints and rounded them rather than quoting a precision the sources don't claim.

Source: USDA FoodData Central, fat composition per 100 g, Foundation Foods and SR Legacy entries for each oil; smoke points compiled from the same USDA entries and published oil-property tables, reported as ranges

I used to obsess over every calorie at holidays, certain one slice of pie would undo everything. This is the piece on why aiming for 80 percent beats aiming for perfect. Read it →

A 16.9-ounce bottle of avocado oil runs about $13.50 right now. Olive oil in that same size bottle is closer to $7, and the larger 25.4-ounce bottles were selling for around $10 before prices eased earlier this year.

The International Olive Council puts American olive oil consumption at roughly 41 ounces per person per year, which comes to two and a half of those bottles. A family of four going through about 10 bottles a year would spend around $66 more buying avocado oil instead.

Prices from IMARC and Forbes, consumption from the International Olive Council.

Avocado stands in for the heavy cream here, so a few whole ingredients get you something creamy with no ice cream maker. Blender to freezer in about ten minutes. Get the recipe →

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