How Do You Use Apricot Kernel Oil?

Apricot kernel oil is pressed from the seed inside the apricot stone. In Hunza it is a traditional cooking and skin oil, and it is now sold around the world. Before you use it in the kitchen or on your skin, it helps to know what it is made of, what the evidence says about its benefits, and one safety point about apricot kernels that most product pages leave out.

What the oil is made of

Analyses of apricot kernel oil from different countries agree on its broad makeup. A 2019 study of five cultivars grown in Poland found that oleic acid, a monounsaturated fat, made up 70.70% of the fatty acids, followed by linoleic acid at 22.41%, palmitic at 3.14%, stearic at 1.4%, and small amounts of linolenic and palmitoleic acids. A Turkish study of nine varieties reported very similar figures, 70.83% oleic and 21.96% linoleic. A Macedonian study of cold-pressed oils found less oleic acid in oil from bitter kernels (57.8%) than from sweet kernels (66.7%), so the oil is not identical from batch to batch. The dominant form of vitamin E in the oil is gamma-tocopherol, with about 315 to 502 mg per kilogram in the Polish cultivars, and the Polish oils also contained beta-carotene at 42 to 67 micrograms per gram.

In plain terms, apricot kernel oil is a light, mostly monounsaturated oil with some vitamin E and a little carotene. That is a reasonable profile for a food or skin oil. It is not unique: olive oil, almond oil and many others are similar, and we found no study showing apricot kernel oil to be better than them.

The safety point: amygdalin in kernels

Apricot kernels contain a natural compound called amygdalin, which the body converts to cyanide after eating. In 2016 the European Food Safety Authority set an acute reference dose of 20 micrograms of cyanide per kilogram of body weight, which it said was 25 times below the lowest reported lethal dose. On that basis EFSA said an adult could eat three small raw kernels (370 mg) without exceeding the limit, and that for a toddler the amount would be about 60 mg, or roughly half of one small kernel. Symptoms of cyanide poisoning include nausea, fever, headaches, insomnia, thirst, lethargy, nervousness, muscle and joint pains and falling blood pressure, and in extreme cases it can be fatal. Bitter kernels contain more amygdalin than sweet ones.

That opinion concerns raw kernels, not oil. We could not find a published measurement of amygdalin or cyanide in cold-pressed apricot kernel oil, so we cannot tell you that oil is safe or unsafe in this respect, and you should not assume either. What we can say is: do not eat raw apricot kernels as a snack or "health food", especially not bitter ones and never give them to children; buy oil from a seller who states whether it is from sweet or bitter kernels and who can tell you about testing if you plan to eat it; and keep culinary use modest. If you are pregnant, or feeding young children, the cautious choice is to use a different cooking oil.

In the kitchen

• Gentle heat. Our earlier page said the oil has a high smoke point of about 215 degrees Celsius. We could not verify that figure, and smoke points vary with refining. Cold-pressed oils generally tolerate less heat than refined ones, so use it for light sautéing, dressings and finishing, not deep frying.
• Dressings and drizzling. The mild, slightly nutty flavour suits salads, roasted vegetables and soups.
• Use small amounts. Like any oil it is around 9 calories per gram, so a tablespoon adds up.
• Store it cool and dark, away from heat, as with other unrefined oils.

On the skin and hair

Apricot kernel oil is widely used as a facial and body oil, and people often say it softens skin and hair. Its fatty acids and vitamin E make it a plausible moisturiser, in the same way other plant oils are. We searched PubMed and found no clinical trial in people testing apricot kernel oil for skin condition or hair health, so claims that it treats dry patches, reduces wrinkles or repairs hair have no human trial behind them that we could find. Reasonable uses are as a simple emollient and as a carrier oil, applied to damp skin after washing. Practical points:

• Do a patch test first: apply a small amount to the inside of the forearm and wait 24 hours.
• Avoid it if you have a known allergy to nuts, almonds or stone fruit, or if you get a rash, and ask an allergist if you are unsure.
• Keep oils away from the eyes, and do not use them on broken or infected skin.
• Do not expect it to treat skin disease. Persistent eczema, acne or hair loss needs a doctor.

For the wider picture of Hunza foods, see our Hunza diet page. This page is general information, not medical advice.

Sources

• Stryjecka M, et al. Chemical composition and antioxidant properties of oils from the seeds of five apricot cultivars. J Oleo Sci 2019;68(8):729-38.
• Turan S, et al. Fatty acid, triacylglycerol, phytosterol, and tocopherol variations in kernel oil of Malatya apricots from Turkey. J Agric Food Chem 2007;55(26):10787-94.
• Kostadinovic Velickovska S, et al. Bioactive compounds and in vitro antioxidant activity of some traditional and non-traditional cold-pressed edible oils from Macedonia. J Food Sci Technol 2018;55(5):1614-23.
• European Food Safety Authority. Raw apricot kernels: acute health risk from cyanogenic glycosides (news release, April 2016).