If you've been paying extra for avocado oil at the grocery store, I have some disappointing news. A new study found that up to 89 percent of products labeled "made with avocado oil" may contain little to no actual avocado oil at all. You can read the full reporting here.

Researchers tested a range of products carrying avocado oil claims, and many came back with no authentic avocado oil in them at all. Some were cut with cheaper oils. Others had nothing real detectable.

I spent twenty years as a nurse, and if that taught me anything it's that what's on the label and what's in the bottle don't always match. Usually that mattered for medications. Now apparently your cooking oil deserves the same suspicion.

Why does this matter for your health? A few reasons. Avocado oil is prized for its monounsaturated fats and its relatively high smoke point, which is why people like it for cooking at higher temperatures without breaking the oil down. If you're actually getting a blend of cheaper, more processed oils, you're not getting what you paid for. And in some cases you may be getting oils that oxidize more easily at high heat, and degraded oils can produce compounds that aren't great for you over time.

There's a freshness problem too. Earlier studies on avocado oil found widespread oxidation before the bottles even reached store shelves, meaning rancid oil sold as fresh. This new research suggests it goes deeper than storage. The supply chain itself may be mislabeled from the start.

My son Linton went through a phase where he cooked everything in avocado oil, and I can't fault him, the reasoning was sound. It's a bit deflating to think he might have been sautéing vegetables in something else entirely.

So what can you do? A few practical things. Dark glass bottles protect the oil from light damage, so look for those over clear plastic. Check for a harvest or expiration date, since reputable producers tend to print one. And price is a rough signal. Real avocado oil is expensive to produce. If a bottle costs about the same as vegetable oil, your skepticism should kick in.

I'd also gently suggest not panicking. This isn't a safety recall, and nobody needs to empty their pantry tonight. It's a reminder that label claims on food products are only as good as the oversight behind them, and supplements and specialty oils sit in a space where that oversight is thinner than most people assume.

Read the label, question the bargain, and when a claim sounds too good to be cheap, it usually is. That's a habit worth keeping, avocado oil or otherwise.