Fruit nutrition facts

Why fruits?

Fruits are nature’s wonderful medicines packed with vitamins, minerals, anti-oxidants and many phyto-nutrients (Plant derived micronutrients). They are an absolute feast to our sight, not just because of their color and flavor but their unique nutrition-profile that help the body stay fit and healthy!

1. Fruits are low in calories and fat and are a source of simple sugars, fiber, and vitamins, which are essential for optimizing our health.
2. Fruits provide plenty of soluble dietary fiber, which helps to ward of cholesterol and fats from the body and to get relief from constipation as well.
3. Fruits contain many anti-oxidants like poly-phenolic flavonoids, vitamin-C, and anthocyanins. These compounds, firstly,help human body protected from oxidant stress, diseases, and cancers, and secondly;help the body develop capacity to fight against these ailments by boosting our immunity level. Many fruits, when compared to vegetables and cereals, have very high anti-oxidant value, which is something measured by their "Oxygen Radical Absorbent Capacity" or (ORAC).
4. Anthocyanins are flavonoid category of poly-phenolic compounds found in some "blue-fruits" like blue-black grapes, mulberries, acai berry, chokeberry, blueberries, blackberries, and in many vegetables featuring blue or deep purple color. Eating fruits rich in blue pigments offers many health benefits. These compounds have potent anti-oxidant properties, remove free radicals from the body, and thus offer protection against cancers, aging, infections, etc. These pigments tend to concentrate just underneath the skin.
5. Fruit’s health benefiting properties are because of their richness in vitamins, minerals, micro-nutrients, anti-oxidants, which helps the body prevent or at least prolong the natural changes of aging by protecting and rejuvenating cells, tissues and organs. Their overall benefits are manifold! Fruit nutrition benefits are infinite! You are protecting yourself from minor ailments like wrinkling of skin, hair-fall, and memory loss to major ailments like age-related macular degeneration (AMRD) of the retina in the eyes, Alzheimer’s disease, colon cancers, weak bones (osteoporosis)…etc., andthe list of fruit nutrition benefits never ends!

Here is an impressive list of fruits with complete illustrations of their
health benefits and nutrition facts:

Acai berry	Apple	Apricot
Avocado	Banana	Blackberries
Black currants	Blueberries	Cantaloupe
Cherimoya	Cherry	Chokeberry
Cranberries	Dates	Durian fruit
Figs	Gooseberries	Grapes
Grapefruit	Guava	Jackfruit
Kiwi fruit	Kumquat	Lemon
Loquat fruit	Lychee	Mango fruit
Mangosteen	Mulberries	Orange
Papaya	Passion fruit	Peaches
Pears	Persimmon fruit	Pineapple
Plums	Pomegranate	Quince fruit
Raspberry	Sapodilla (Sapote)	Star fruit
Strawberry	Tangerine	Watermelon

How much fruit nutrition should be included in our daily diet?

Research studies suggest that one may eat any servings of fruits daily. It is recommended to eat at least 2-3 servings of fresh fruits every day.
The term one fruit serving is about 250 g of cleaned, edible-portion of the fruit, excluding discards like peel, seeds, etc.
Include seasonal fruits in the daily diet. Variety of fruit's type, color, and flavor should be encouraged to get maximum health benefits. Yellow and orange color fruits are rich sources of α and β carotenes, zea-xanthin and crypto-xanthin, while blue, black colored like black or blueberries are a good source of poly-phenolic anthocyanin anti-oxidants.

Selection of fruits

To avail maximum fruit nutrition benefits eat organic produce. Many "wild" varieties of berries and "tropical tree" fruits have still not treated with any kind of fertilizers or chemicals and can be readily purchased from local farm owners. Organic fruits tend to be smaller; however, they feature special flavor and richness in vitamins, minerals and stuffed with numerous anti-oxidants.
In the store, however, choose fruits that feature freshness, bright in color and flavor and feel heavy in your hands. Look carefully for blemishes, spots, molds, and signs of insecticide spray. Buy whole fruits instead of section of them (for example, buy a small size watermelon instead of a section of big size melon).

Dry fruits

Dry fruits are rich source of nutrients such as vitamins and minerals. Consumption of some dry fruits daily enhances the overall bioavailability of nutrients. Try raisins(dried grapes), apricots, dates, figs, tamarind..., which are indeed very good in iron, calcium, zinc, selenium and manganese. In addition, mixing dry fruits with some fresh fruits would help you get vitamin C which in-turn facilitates complete absorption of iron inside the stomach.

How to use fruits?

Barring few fruits like berries, try to wash them soon after shopping. Rinse them in salt water for few minutes and then wash in cool running water until you are satisfied with complete cleanliness. This way, you make sure that the fruit you eat is rid-off dust, sand and any residual chemical spray. Eat them while they are fresh because, certain fruits have very short shelf life and the health benefiting properties of fruit declines with time. If you need to store them, place them in plastic wrappings or in zip pouches to keep them fresh for short periods until you use them. Eat fruits as a whole without any additions to get their original flavor, taste, and to get maximum fruit nutrition benefits.
If you need to store them, place them in plastic wrappings or in zip pouches to keep them fresh for short periods until you use them. Eat fruits as a whole without any additions to get their original flavor, taste, and to get maximum fruit nutrition benefits.

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Persimmon fruit nutrition facts

Sweet, delicious persimmon fruits are rich in health promoting nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, and anti-oxidants that are vital for optimum health. Botanically, the fruit belongs to the family of Ebenaceaeof the genus: Diospyros. Scientific name: Diospyros virginiana.
This delicate oriental fruit is native to China. It spread to Japan very long ago and later was introduced to California during the middle of nineteenth century.

Persimmon tree with fruit. (Diospyros virginiana) Photo: byTakekaju)	Delicious Persimmon slices.

Persimmon is a multi-trunked or single-stemmed deciduous tree, which grows up to 25 ft. in height. They grow best in areas that have moderate winters and relatively mild summers.
Persimmon trees classified broadly into two general categories: those that bear "astringent fruit" (whilst unripe) and those that bear "non-astringent" fruits. An astringent cultivar, which is commonly cultivated in Japan known as “Hachiya,” is high in tanninsand must be allowed to ripen fully until it attains jelly-soft consistency before fit to eat. A non-astringent persimmon, on the other hand, contains less tannin and can be eaten while it is crispy as in apples. Astringency can be removed by treating the fruit with carbon dioxide or alcohol.
During each season, the tree bears numerous fruits that vary by cultivar from spherical to heart to flatten or squash in shape. They also greatly vary in size from as little as a few ounces to more than a pound. The color of the fruit varies from light yellow-orange to dark orange-red. The entire fruit is edible except for the seed and calyx.

Astringent persimmons.

Astringent varieties: Eureka, Hachiya, Saijo, Tamopan, Tanenashi, Triumph, etc.
Non-astringent varieties: Fuyu (Fuyugaki), Gosho/Giant Fuyu/O'Gosho, Imoto, Izu, Jiro, Maekawajiro, Okugosho, Suruga, etc.

Health benefits of persimmon fruit

The fruit is low in calories (provides 70 calories/100g) and fats but is rich source of dietary fiber.

Persimmons contain health benefiting phyto-nutrients flavonoid poly-phenolic anti-oxidants likecatechinsand gallocatechinsas well as important anti-tumor compoundbetulinic acid. Catechins are known to have anti-infective, anti-inflammatory and anti-hemorrhagic (prevents bleeding from small blood vessels) properties.

Fresh persimmons contain anti-oxidant compounds like vitamin-A, beta-carotene, lycopene, lutein, zea-xanthin and cryptoxanthin. Together, these compounds functions as protective scavengers against oxygen-derived free radicals and reactive oxygen species (ROS) that play a role in aging and various disease processes.

Zea-xanthin, an important dietary carotenoid, selectively absorbed into the retinal macula lutea in the eyes where it is thought to provide antioxidant and protective light-filtering functions; thus, helps prevent "Age-related macular related macular disease"(ARMD) in the elderly.

They are also a very good source of vitamin-C, another powerful antioxidant (especially native Chinese and American persimmons; provide 80% of DRI). Regular consumption of foods rich in vitamin C helps the body develop resistance against infectious agents and scavenge harmful, pro-inflammatory free radicals.

The fruit is good in many valuable B-complex vitamins such as folic acid, pyridoxine (vitamin B-6), thiamin...etc. These vitamins act as co-factors for numerous metabolic enzymatic functions in the body.

Fresh Persimmon fruits also contain healthy amounts of minerals like potassium, manganese (15% of DRI), copper (12% of DRI), and phosphorus. Manganese is a co-factor for the enzyme, superoxide dismutase, which is a very powerful free radical scavenger. Copper is a co-factor for many vital enzymes, includingcytochrome c-oxidase and superoxide dismutase (other minerals function as cofactors for this enzyme are manganese, and zinc). Copper is also required for the production of red blood cells.

Persimmon fruit (Diospyros virginiana),
Japanese, fresh,
Nutrition Value per 100 g
(Source: USDA National Nutrient data base)

Principle	Nutrient Value	Percentage of RDA
Energy	70 Kcal	3.5%
Carbohydrates	18.59 g	14%
Protein	0.58 g	1%
TotalFat	0.19g	1%
Cholesterol	0 g	0%
Dietary Fiber	3.6 g	9.5%
Vitamins
Choline	7.6 mg	1.5%
Folates	8 µg	2%
Niacin	0.100 mg	1%
Pyridoxine	0.100 mg	7.5%
Riboflavin	0.020 mg	1.5%
Thiamin	0.030 mg	2.5%
Vitamin C	7.5 mg	12.5%
Vitamin A	81 IU	3%
Vitamin E	0.73 mg	5%
Vitamin K	2.6 µg	2%
Electrolytes
Sodium	1 mg	0%
Potassium	161 mg	2.5%
Minerals
Calcium	8 mg	0.8%
Copper	0.113 mg	12.5%
Iron	0.15 mg	2%
Magnesium	9 mg	2%
Manganese	0.355 mg	15%
Phosphorus	17 mg	4.5%
Zinc	0.11 mg	1%
Phyto-nutrients
Carotene-α	0 µg	--
Carotene-β	253 µg	--
Crypto-xanthin-β	1447 µg	--
Lutein-zeaxanthin	834 µg	--
Lycopene	159 µg	--

Selection and storage

Astringent variety persimmon fruits generally harvested when they are hard but fully matured. Non-astringent persimmons are ready for harvesting when they reach full-colored, and slightly soft in consistency. Astringent persimmons usually continue to ripen at room temperature. Both kinds of persimmons should be plucked from the tree using hand-held pruning shears (as in mango), leaving the calyx intact, unless the fruit is to be used for drying while taking care not to bruise.

In the stores, select fresh fruits featuring bright yellow-orange color without any surface bruises or cuts on them. "Dried persimmons" are also available readily in the supermarkets and feature many similarities with dried-apricots.

Mature, hard astringent persimmons can be stored in the refrigerator for several months. Non-astringent varieties have short shelf life and can be stored for only a few days at room temperature.

Preparation and serving methods

Persimmons can be eaten fresh, dried, or cooked. Raw fruits can be cut into quarters or eaten wholesome like an apple. Their flavor ranges from a firm to mushy and is very sweet.

Here are some serving tips:

• Dried persimmon fruits can be used in cookies, cakes, puddings, salads and as a topping for breakfast cereal.
• Persimmon fruit pudding is a popular dessert which uses fresh fruits.
• Dried fruits are also used as snacks or used in desserts. They are used widely to make the traditional Korean spicy recipe, sujeonggwa,while the matured, fermented fruit is used to make persimmon vinegar called "gamsikcho" 
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