Health Benefits Of Kiwi Fruit
There are various health benefits associated with eating kiwi fruit regularly. Whether you choose to consume kiwi fruit as a snack or small desert this fruit is packed with specific nutrients that can help you throughout your day. Something to note is that some people have a kiwi fruit allergy.
If you are looking to get a little healthier and drop the high processed sugars or unhealthy snacks this could be an ideal intermediate food for you. Kiwi fruit contains healthy amounts of natural sugars and vitamin C that could provide you with potential health benefits.
Vitamin C is a really important vitamin that supports various processes within the body and moderate amounts of natural sugars support healthy metabolic function. Kiwi fruit is one of the most nutrient dense foods for vitamin C.
Other potential benefits of kiwi fruit consumption are the maintenance of healthy body antioxidant levels, blood lipid profiles and the prevention of some skin disorders. The kiwi fruit is now grown across the globe and extracts are used in certain medical preparations.
The nutritional antioxidant content and anti inflammatory actions of kiwi fruit has led food researchers to suggest this fruit could have potential health benefits in preventing cardiovascular disease and cancer.
In this article we will look at the potential health benefits of regularly eating kiwi fruit.
Nutritional Content Of Kiwi Fruit
Kiwi fruits possess a unique nutritional content and are very slightly sweet to taste. Some of the key nutrients found within kiwi fruits are vitamin C and potassium. These are crucial for optimal health. Kiwi fruit also has healthy amounts of natural sugars and some gut microbe stimulating dietary fibres.
Vitamin C
There is 92.7mg of vitamin C per 100 grams of kiwi fruit. Fruits are really rich sources of this vitamin and humans can not make vitamin C themselves. Kiwi fruit is one of the highest in gram for gram vitamin C content or vitamin C nutrient density.
Our guideline RDA for vitamin C is between 75mg for women and 90mg for men. Kiwi fruit therefore contributes very significantly to our daily RDA of vitamin C at 92.7mg per 100 grams. Kiwi fruit could provide potential health benefits that you would associate with this vitamin.
Vitamin C is one of our most important vitamins as it ensures that our cells are all under minimal oxidative stress. Excess and consistent oxidative stress leads to excess inflammation. This can cause damage within the body and premature cell ageing. Chronic oxidative stress also increase risks of diabetes or heart disease. Critical oxidative damage to important pancreatic cells can initiate inflammatory diabetes.
As an antioxidant vitamin C clears up energetically dangerous molecules within the body. We regularly produce free radical molecules and also regularly encounter these in our diet or environment via toxin exposure. Vitamin C is vital for maintaining our overall wellness because of these cleansing actions within the body.
Vitamin C is also a cancer preventative vitamin. This is because high energy free radicals can disrupt the DNA or other molecules within cells and vitamin C cleanses the cells of these.
Vitamin C is really important for optimal wound healing and supports the immune system. This vitamin encourages collagen rich connective tissue production and could therefore also slow body ageing. Collagen is an important part of our muscles and skin. Through sufficiency of vitamin C you could gain potential benefits from eating the kiwi fruit.
Kiwi Fruit Phytochemicals And Antioxidants
Kiwi fruit provides a rich source of antioxidants such lutein or other kiwi fruit phytochemicals like zeaxanthin which could also protect the body from oxidative damage. The kiwi fruit also contains phenolics and flavonoids. These all add to the antioxidant capacity of the kiwi fruit.
The total antioxidant content of kiwi fruit is higher than most fruits. This includes apples, grapefruits and pears. Supplementary kiwi fruit showed an association and promise for the prevention of developing cancer. Kiwi fruit phytochemicals show promise as bioactives within the cosmetics industry.
Kiwi fruit phytochemicals or antioxidants may also help to encourage improvements in high density lipoprotein cholesterol, reduce blood platelet aggregation and calm elevated blood pressure. Some researchers suggest that antioxidant rich kiwi fruit could help to reduce the incidence or severity of colds and flu too. Eating kiwi fruit with iron rich meals could improve poor iron status too and this is because the high levels of vitamin C.
These are some additional potential health benefits that could apply to the regular consumption of kiwi fruit.
Vitamin K
One of the most nutrient dense vitamins in kiwi fruit is vitamin K. This vitamin is not required in large amounts but is essential for wound healing and blood clotting. The relatively high amounts of vitamin K present in kiwi fruit mean that these are potential health benefits of regular kiwi consumption.
Vitamin K is needed is only microgram quantities. In 100 grams of kiwi fruit you can find around 40µg of vitamin K. This is also a fat soluble vitamin so must be consumed with a small amount of dietary fat for absorption.
Potassium
Another key nutrient you can find in large amounts in kiwi fruits is potassium. The potassium levels in kiwi fruits are one of the highest found in fruits. This is an essential electrolyte that assists with many functions within our body.
There is 312mg of potassium per 100 grams of kiwi fruit. Our recommended intake of potassium is variable depending on circumstances. The recommended potassium intake per day is around 2,300mg for women and 3,000mg for men.
Regular kiwi fruit consumption supports a healthy intake of this electrolytic mineral and offers potential health benefits that are associated with potassium.
Potassium is needed in large amounts in the body. This electrolytic mineral helps to maintain healthy muscular movements and nerve transmissions. Potassium balances with other key minerals such as sodium within the body. Studies have also linked elevated potassium levels with a massively reduced risk of a stroke. These protective functions on nerve or muscle health add to the potential health benefits of eating kiwi fruit.
Healthy Sugars
Research shows that inflammation promoting western diets are high in processed sugars and don’t support our overall wellbeing. These sorts of diets are high in processed sugars and can lead to obesity or inflammatory conditions such as diabetes.
Moderating sugar intake per day is an issue for a lot of people and so moderating sugar intake or healthy weight loss could be a potential health benefit of eating kiwi fruit. Kiwi fruits contain only moderate amounts of natural sugars that the body can use to support our day to day processes.
In kiwi fruit there is 4.4g of fructose and 4.1g of glucose per 100 grams. This is very moderate. This also means that kiwi fruit can help to support with optimal energy production in the body and provides potential health benefits. Kiwi fruit is a low glycaemic fruit that could provide potential health benefits by supporting healthy blood glucose or sugar level regulation. This is a key risk factor for diabetes.
Dietary Fibre
All plant food contain healthy dietary fibre in the form of indigestible sugars. These sugars are different to the sugars we can use to produce energy in the body. Plants are rich in cellulose, lignin and hemicellulose which are forms of sugars that our body can not digest. These are beta glucose sugars and our gut bacteria really like to use these. Gut microbes have the right enzymes to break down these sugars.
There is an estimated 3g of dietary fibre per 100 grams of kiwi fruit. This is quite substantial. Research shows that regular dietary fibre intake can help to improve the diversity of our gut microbes. These in themselves have effects on our overall wellness. This includes effects on brain health and systemic inflammation.
Accumulations of pathogenic gut bacteria can lead to an aggravated gut or systemic inflammation. This can affect things like skin health and contributes to skin disease like acne or eczema. Some harmful bacteria can also increase skin sebum production and this also worsens some skin diseases. The regular consumption of kiwi fruit may assist with helping the growth of lactobacilli and bifidobacteria in the gut as a prebiotic.
Research shows that kiwi fruit may aid healthy digestion too and reduce symptoms of IBS. This may be due to the natural antioxidant capacity, fibre content and natural protein digesting enzymes present in kiwi fruit. Kiwi fruit contains a specific and very active protein digesting enzyme.
An increase in dietary fibre intake adds to the potential health benefits of eating kiwi fruits each day.
Overall the regular consumption of kiwi fruit may have important potential health benefits. This includes immune system optimisation and support with healthy digestion.
Summary
The kiwi fruit is nutrient dense and is associated with various health benefits. Research considers this to be mainly due to a high vitamin C and antioxidant content.
Kiwi fruits are one of the most nutrient dense foods available for vitamin C. There are so many potential benefits to maintaining vitamin C sufficiency. Vitamin C is needed for optimal immune system functioning, can have antiaging effects and supports healthy connective tissue production. A high vitamin C content means these are all potential health benefits of regular kiwi consumption.
A low glycaemic content means kiwi fruit could be an ideal snack replacement for those looking to get a little healthier. Antioxidants in kiwi fruit also support anti inflammatory outcomes and this could help to lower risks of diabetes or cardiovascular disease. The antioxidants in kiwi fruit may be cancer preventative.
Other nutrients in kiwi fruits include potassium and vitamin K. These help to support the neuromuscular and wound healing functions of the body. Kiwi fruit dietary fibre may also support our wellbeing through promoting health supporting gut microbes.
Overall the regularly eating kiwi fruit may have very important potential health benefits. This could include immune system optimisation and support with healthy digestion.
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