Argan Oil: Benefits and
Threats to Population
In order to illustrate the benefits and threats of Argan oil on
the local population I reviewed, another study done by Lybbert,Aboudrare,
Chaloud, Magan and Nash (2011). In the article titled Booming Markets for
Moroccan Argan Oil Appear to Benefit Some Rural Households While Threatening
the Endemic Argan Forest, the authors look at both the benefits and
threats posed by the growing market for the oil. According to Lybbert et al
«the Argan forests did not improve as well as the local communities
did not benefited from the growth of the Argan industry. In Contrast, many
communities were negatively affected by the rising cost of Argan oil sold
locally while trees were over harvested due to rising prices of Argan oil in
the market».
The authors did a micro analysis of the impact of the boom price of Argan oil
on rural households and Argan forest. Then, they compared the result on two
times. Before booming prices and after booming prices. According to Lybbert et
al «As Argan prices soared between 1999 and 2007, average household Argan
oil production tripled, and average Argan oil consumption fell by one-half.
Argan fruit became a popular speculative investment.
The proportion of households selling Argan oil more than doubled;
however, the proportion selling fruit increased more than six fold, because the
booming fruit market has turned Argan fruit into an important source of income.
Even more recently, markets for Argan kernels began to emerge, and these
markets increasingly enable locals to capture the greater value added by
stripping pulp and cracking stones to extract the kernel. The boom has also
induced households to alter their exploitation of the forest. Conflicts over
Argan resources have increased as well as conflicts over permanent barriers
around seasonal usufruct forest tracts. Although most households still graze
their goats in Argan trees during some periods of the year, they do so less
frequently than before and very rarely during the fruit collection season.
Locals tend to harvest Argan fruit more aggressively and often use sticks to
dislodge fruit, which can damage branches and dislodge buds for subsequent
year's production.»
It is
clear that the booming prices of Argan oil has benefited economically and
socially the local households through a reduction in rural poverty and an
increase in the number of girls attending secondary schools. However, this
study also showed that there is a negative impact on the Argan forest that
include the use of aggressive harvesting techniques and the purchasing of more
goats which threat the trees.
Therapeutic Properties of
Argan Oil
There are a number of researches that have looked into the
therapeutic properties of Argan Oil. This includes the work of El Monfalouti,
Guillaume. Denhez and Charrauf
(2010). These studies were aimed at determining if Argan oil
has only nutritional properties or if it can be said to also possess
pharmacological properties.ElMonfalouti, Guillaume. Denhez and Charrauf
(2010)claimed that Argan oil has a multiples therapeutic properties:
Cancer Chemo Protective
Effects
Chemoprevention is defined by the American Heritage Dictionary
(2016) as «the use of chemical agents, drugs, or food supplements to
prevent the development of cancer.» A chemo protective agent, according
to the National Cancer Institute (2016) is a «type of drug that helps
protect healthy tissue from some of the side effects caused by certain
anticancer drugs. For example, in patients receiving certain anticancer
drugs» one drug or agent can help prevent damage to another part of the
body. According to the work ofEl Monfalouti et al (2010) «because Argan
and olive oils share a similar composition, the cancer chemoprotective effect
attributed to olive oil has also been attributed to argan oil.Argan oil's high
levels of ã-tocopherol - by far the most potent
antioxidant of the tocopherols - and its high squalene content have even led to
a suggestion that its chemoprotective effect may even be greater. Antioxidants
present in Argan oil are believed to prevent or delay the onset of
reactive oxygen species after lipid peroxidation observed in rats or human
plasma.Specific investigations on prostatic cells have shown that, in
vitro, Argan oil polyphenols and sterols have cytotoxic properties
and exert an inhibitory effect on the proliferation of hormone-independent
(DU145 and PC3) as well as of hormone-dependent (LNCaP) prostate cancer cell
lines. The relative cytotoxic activity of Argan oil polyphenols measured by
means of the MTT assay indicates IC50 values of 75, 100 and
50 ug/ml for the DU145, LNCaP and PC3 cell lines, respectively.
For Argan oil sterols, the IC50 values are 25, 75 and 70 ug/ml
for the DU145, LNCaP and PC3 cell lines, respectively».
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