Importance of Fruits

Serena Cuoghi
Title of Professor of Biology

From a very young age, it is common to hear parents and teachers talking about the importance of fruits, how they should be maintained incorporated into the daily diet and the multiple benefits they provide for health, such as 1) they provide essential vitamins for the metabolism; 2) they have a great variety of trace elements that complement the nutritional requirements of the body; 3) they provide antioxidants with which the accumulation of free radicals in the organism is prevented and combated; and 4) they are healthy and delicious. However, some of these statements can be altered in the way that the fruits travel from the place where they are produced until they reach our home, as well as for general care throughout the stages of their production and consumption final.

Vitamins in a bite

Fruits provide us with a high content of vitamins and other essential nutrients, but their quantities vary depending on the variety of fruit and even its state of maturity, conservation and prosecution.

The simple state in which most of the vitamins are found among the substances that make up fruits makes them a source optimal for obtaining and metabolizing it, so knowing which vitamins are present in each type of fruit and in what amounts is always very useful information for our lives and the sooner it is known, the better the quality of the food that is maintained throughout life, hence the importance that is being given to teaching children about the nutritional values ​​of food in general.

But not everything ends up being as simple as washing and eating. Fruits can sometimes go through unfortunate processes in our own home. Habits such as preparing fruit smoothies reduce its nutritional properties, destroying a large amount of its vitamins, in addition to accelerating degradation and oxidation processes, altering the molecular composition of the elements in their original state and making their digestion even more difficult, a situation which radically worsens when these smoothies are part of the other meals, leading us towards a very unhealthy dynamic and with few nutritional contributions such as consequence.

be careful with sugar

Many tend to recommend high levels of daily fruit consumption, some even with several daily servings, however, these These indications omit a very important factor that can end up turning fruits against us: the sugars that store.

Most fruits are a large reservoir of sugars, normally in the form of fructose and sucrose, which are quickly incorporated into the pathways. metabolic processes that process carbohydrates, raising blood sugar levels and increasing body fat reserves, so excessive consumption of Fruits can also make you fat, in addition to overstimulating insulin production and putting those suffering from diseases such as Diabetes mellitus and heart disease at risk. hyperinsulinism.

These considerations should also be consulted with a specialist in nutrition and dietetics, with greater emphasis when there are these types of underlying pathologies and even more when it is required. of the development of a diet plan for children, since they are the ones who are most recommended to give high amounts of fruit without considering the excess of sugars to which they may be exposed.

Silent additives and other bad habits

The collection, transport, distribution and sale of fruits has become an incredibly complex mechanism in recent decades. Most of these travel even thousands of kilometers before being consumed. To achieve such a feat, it has been necessary to resort to a wide variety of chemical products that allow an early harvesting of the fruits, their prolonged conservation and keep away any type of pathogen that can deteriorate them and various bugs that may want to eat them before they any human.

All these substances end up, in one way or another, becoming part of the fruits and passing into our body when we eat them, which is why the highest recommendation, in addition to wash and peel each fruit well before consuming it, it would really mean prioritizing the selection of local fruits that require the least handling and conservation possible, thus reducing the possibility of consuming those that have not duly complied with their natural maturation process, affecting the very quality of the nutrients that should contribute us

References

Biesalski, H. K., & Grimm, P. (2007). Nutrition: text and atlas (Vol. 60). Pan American Medical Ed. Madrid Spain.

Martinez, C. V., Blanco, A. YO. d. C., & Nomdedeu, C. L. (Eds.). (2005). Food and nutrition: theoretical-practical manual. 2nd Ed. Diaz de Santos Editions. Spain.

Verdu, J. m. (2013). Nutrition for educators. Editions Diaz de Santos. Madrid Spain.

Villa, C. (1996). Biology. 8th Edition. Mexico. McGraw-Hill.