Fresh fruits, the way to go

Apr 24, 2007

If you can eat it raw, please do so as long as it is fresh and properly washed. Experts say it is better to eat fruits in their original form. Unfortunately, many people prefer sodas and making juices out of fruits like passion, oranges, pineapple, mango and watermelon, to eating them fresh.

By Harriet Birungi

If you can eat it raw, please do so as long as it is fresh and properly washed. Experts say it is better to eat fruits in their original form. Unfortunately, many people prefer sodas and making juices out of fruits like passion, oranges, pineapple, mango and watermelon, to eating them fresh.

Dr. Jolly Nankunda, a consultant paediatrician with the Special Care Unit, Mulago, says fresh fruits contain nutrients that are pure as opposed to juices whose nutrients are diluted.

“Fresh fruits contain natural sugars in their concentrated form to give energy to the body for a longer time, compared to processed or refined food whose energy provision is immediate, wears off quickly and could be stored in the body as fats.”

She says fresh fruits are rich in vitamins, which boost the immune system and nourish the skin. They also provide fibre/roughages that ease digestion and allow easy absorption of sugars in the body.

“Although making juice may be economical for a family to share, it denies the body of the nutrient content it is meant to receive,” says Nankunda.

William Kyamuhangire, a nutritionist and senior lecturer in the department of foods and technology, Makerere University, decries the trend of processed foods and drinks. He says packed juices are basically made up of sugar flavours, food colour and preservatives as opposed to fresh fruits that are rich in vitamins, carbohydrates and minerals.

He adds that they have roughages that slow down sugar processing and absorption in the body, by releasing it at the right time in the required amounts. “When a fruit is squeezed, it loses Vitamin C, which dissolves in air and gets oxidised,” reveals Kyamuhangire.

However, fruits are best eaten fresh soon after harvest, he said. The longer they stay, the more they become prone to germ attacks that lead to fermentation, resulting into an acid taste when you eat them.

Kyamuhangire advises, that should there be need to store the fruits, the room temperature is the appropriate temperature that preserves most of these nutrients or chilling temperature of 12 to 15 degrees centigrade. Keeping them in a fridge at refrigeration temperatures will cause them to suffer from chilling injury that ruins the fruit quality and changes the natural sugar concentration.

Fruits that ripen after harvest (non-climacteric fruits), like avocado, should be stored at room temperature so that they can ripen with their natural nutrient content intact, advised Kyamuhangire.

Processed and packed juices have become popular due to their long shelf-life. Kyamuhangire, however says, they are made of preservatives meant to stop the sugar in them from going bad or fermenting. “The rest are flavours that are powder extracts from a particular fruit to give taste and food colour for their appearance.”

Kyamuhangire advises parents to explain the importance of fresh fruits to their children and should include them in their diet. Parents should encourage their children to eat fruits right from an early age.

Louise Serunjogi, a nutritionist with Child Health, Mulago, says the older you become, the more important fruits become because of the roughages which help prevent constipation.

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