Everyone wants youthful, healthy-looking skin. It’s too bad that the skin naturally ages: For some, the signs come as soon as they hit their 30s, when fine lines, wrinkles, and sunspots start to appear. While people spend thousands of dollars on conventional skin treatments that can do more harm than good, there are safer and more effective natural treatments available. These often include natural compounds that have powerful antioxidant effects, such as argan oil. Here Dr. Joseph Mercola, Mercola.com, reflects on everything you need to know about argan oil:

“Did you know that pure argan oil, called “liquid gold”¹ or “the Gold of Morocco” because of its outstanding health benefits, was once made with the help of tree goats — particularly their droppings? The fruit of the argan tree is a favorite food of tree-climbing goats. The undigested seeds, where the oil comes from, are carefully picked by locals out of the animals’ poop (more on this later).²

But that was a long time ago, and you’ll be relieved to know that most of the Moroccan argan nuts today are painstakingly picked from the trees and the oil handmade by all-female, local cooperatives.³ Although a bottle of high-quality argan oil can fetch a high price, the benefits that it offers surely make it worth every cent. Here’s everything you need to know about argan oil.

What Is Argan Oil?

Argan oil is made from the seeds of the small fruit of Argania spinosa, a slow-growing tree that’s native to Southwestern Morocco and in the Algerian province Tindouf, located in the Western Mediterranean area.⁴ The argan fruit appears like a shriveled golden apple, with a thick peel and a fleshy and bitter pulp. The seeds are almond-shaped, resembling a dried olive. Each seed contains one to three oil-rich kernels.⁵

As mentioned above, tree goats were essential in argan oil production in the past. The fruit, which accounts for as much as 84 percent of their diet,⁶ is eaten whole by the goats. However, the nuts are not digested, and are instead excreted in the goat’s feces. The droppings were then gathered by locals and opened to get the seeds inside. The seeds were then cracked, roasted and ground to produce the oil.⁷

However, local co-ops no longer rely on this method, as they seek to deliver only high-quality argan oil, good enough for export. Instead, they now collect the fruit from trees and manufacture the oil by hand, peeling the fruit to extract the seed. This method, albeit much more difficult, yields a higher quality oil for export.⁸

To make argan oil, locals hand-crack the nuts in between two stones, to get the raw kernels out from within the hard shell. These kernels are then hand-ground using a stone grinder, and placed in a mill with water to produce a dough-like mixture. This dough is then hand-kneaded for hours to extract the oil.⁹ Because of this tedious process, each worker takes as much as three days to make a single liter of argan oil — no wonder it can fetch a very high price,¹⁰ selling for around $300 or more per liter.¹¹

The increase in demand for argan oil has led to a surge in oil-making co-ops. In 1999, there were only three argan oil co-ops; in 2010, the number had risen to 150.¹² Nevertheless, this has definitely helped the economic landscape of Morocco. According to one analysis, the “argan boom” has helped increase the number of Moroccan girls attending secondary school.¹³

To ensure the sustainability of the oil, and to protect the eco-region on which more than 1,200 other plant and animal species thrive, UNESCO designated the argan forest in Southwestern Morocco as a biosphere reserve in 1998.¹⁴

Argan Oil’s Benefits and Uses Come From Its Many Constituents

The benefits of this amber-colored oil¹⁵ have been well-known for many centuries, going back as far as 600 BC. The Phoenicians used it not just for enhancing their appearance, but for healing as well.”

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