The Dangers of Your Avocado Addiction

Our love for avocado may present a danger to our hands — and our wallets.
The Dangers of Your Avocado Addiction

rye sandwiches and mashed avocado, eggs, tomatoes and cucumbers

Photo by: Nataliya Arzamasova

Nataliya Arzamasova

Avocado Warning No. 1: Guacamole prep may be perilous to your hand. Avocado is “ one of the most dangerous foods to cut,” according to the New York Times. The Times of London reports that deep hand cuts from slicing avocados have become so common that surgeons in the United Kingdom have coined the term “ avocado hand.” In fact, the San Francisco Chronicle notes that emergency rooms now anticipate a spike in avocado-related injuries on Saturday afternoons — a “ post-brunch surge.”

Avocado Warning No. 2: Your love of avocado toast may soon take a deep cut out of your wallet as well. The price of avocados have shot way up in the past year, with the cost of avocados from some areas of Mexico more than doubling from just one year ago and hitting a 19-year high, Bloomberg reports.

In part, it is our very devotion to avocado that is our undoing. Not only is avocado consumption way up in America — from 3.5 pounds per capita in 2006 to 6.9 pounds in 2015 — but elsewhere in the world as well. Increased demand in Europe and China is eating up a lot of the Mexican crop, driving down United States availability. That combined with a lighter crop in Mexico and California this year is driving up prices. The retail price for a Hass avocado this April was $1.27. Last year it was around 98 cents, according the U.S. Department of Agriculture data cited by Bloomberg.

The price is expected to remain high possibly throughout the summer, so you might want to think twice about what to serve at those hot-weather margarita parties. If Mexico’s crop output improves, prices may ease in the fall. Here’s hoping. After all, affordable avocados are something we can all toast.

Photo: iStock

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