Pomegranate nutrition facts

Pomegranate is among the most popular, nutritionally rich fruit with unique flavor, taste, and heath promoting characteristics. Along with berries, and some tropical exotics such as mango, it too has novel qualities of functional foods often called as “super fruits.”

Botanically, it is a small size fruit-bearing deciduous tree belonging within the Lythraceaefamily, of genus: Punica. The fruit is thought to originate in the Sub-Himalayan range of North India. Scientific name: Punica granatum.
The tree grows to about five and eight meters tall. It is cultivated at a commercial scale in vast regions across Indian sub-continent, Iran, Caucuses and Mediterranean regions for its fruits. Completely grown-up tree bears numerous spherical, bright red, purple, or orange-yellow colored fruits depending on the cultivar types. Each fruit measures about 6-10 cm in diameter and weighs about 200 gm. Its outer skin or rind is tough and features leathery texture.
Interior of the fruit is separated by white, thin, spongy, membranous, bitter tissue into compartments. Such sections, packed as sacs, filled with tiny edible sweet, juicy, pink pulp encasing around a single, angular, soft or hard (in over-mature fruits) seed.
Pomegranate is one of the most extensively cultivated fruits for food, juice, flavor, and color, making it a common ingredient in new functional foods often called “super fruits."

Health benefits of Pomegranate

• The fruit is moderate in calories; 100 g provides 83 calories, slightly more than that in theapples. It contains no cholesterol or saturated fats.
• It is rich source of soluble and insoluble dietary fibers, providing about 4 g per 100 g (about 12% of RDA), which aid in smooth digestive and bowel movements. The fruit is suggested by nutritionists in the diet for weight reduction and cholesterol controlling programs. Regular inclusion of fruits in the diets boosts immunity, improves circulation, and offers protection from cancers.
• Punicalaginis a polyphenolic anti-oxidant compound found abundantly in the pomegranate juice. Studies suggest that punicalagin and tannins are effective in reducing heart-disease risk factors by scavenging harmful free radicals from the body.
• Total antioxidant strength of pomegranate fruit measured in terms of its oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) is 2341 µmol TE/100 g.
• The fruit is an also good source of antioxidant vitamin-C, provides about 17% per 100 g of daily requirement. Consumption of fruits rich in vitamin C helps the body develop resistance against infectious agents by boosting immunity.
• Regular consumption of pomegranate has also been found to be effective against prostate cancer, benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), diabetes, and lymphoma.
• 
  Further, it is an also good source of many vital B-complex groups of vitamins such as pantothenic acid (vitamin B-5), folates, pyridoxine and vitamin K, and minerals like calcium, copper, potassium, and manganese.
 

Read More

Banana fruit nutrition facts

Go for banana fruit, nature's own energy-rich food that comes in a safety envelope! Fresh, delicious bananas are available year around and in fact, one of the cheapest fruits. Botanically, the fruit belongs to the family of Musaceae.Commercially, it is one of the widely cultivated crops in the tropical and subtropical zones.
Scientific name: Musa acuminata colla.

Banana is a perennial herbaceous plant that develops from the underground rhizome. It flourishes well under tropical moisture-rich, humid low-lying farmlands.
In fact, the whole plant is a false stem (pseudostem), consisting of broad leaves along with their petioles overlapping around each other in a circular fashion standing up to 2 to 6 meters tall from the ground surface depending upon the cultivar types. At maturity, the rhizome gives rise to flower (inflorescence) that is carried up on a long smooth un-branched stem through the centre of the pseudo-stem emerging out at the top in the centre of the leaf cluster. The flower subsequently develops to hanging bunch consisting of 3 to 20 hands (tiers), each with at least 5-10 fingers (fruits) in each hand (tier). Banana plant or plantain bears hanging clusters of fruits as a bunch. Fruits are arranged in tiers, with 6-20 fruits in each tier.

Health benefits of banana fruit

• Banana fruit is one of the high calorie tropical fruits. 100 g of fruit provides 90 calories. Besides, it contains good amounts of health benefiting anti-oxidants, minerals, and vitamins.
• Banana pulp is composed of soft, easily digestible flesh with simple sugars like fructose and sucrose that when eaten replenishes energy and revitalizes the body instantly; thus, for these qualities, bananas are being used by athletes to get instant energy and as supplement food in the treatment plan for underweight children.
• The fruit contains a good amount of soluble dietary fiber (7% of DRA per 100 g) that helps normal bowel movements; thereby reducing constipation problems.
• It contains health promoting flavonoid poly-phenolic antioxidants such aslutein, zea-xanthin, ß and α-carotenes in small amounts. These compounds help act as protective scavengers against oxygen-derived free radicals and reactive oxygen species (ROS) that play a role in aging and various disease processes.
• It is also a very good source of vitamin-B6(pyridoxine), provides about 28% of daily-recommended allowance. Pyridoxine is an important B-complex vitamin that has a beneficial role for the treatment of neuritis, and anemia. Further, it helps decrease homocystine (one of the causative factors in coronary artery disease (CHD) and stroke episodes) levels within the body.
• The fruit is an also moderate source of vitamin-C (about 8.7 mg per 100g). Consumption of foods rich in vitamin-C helps the body develop resistance against infectious agents and scavenge harmful oxygen-free radicals.
• Fresh bananas provide adequate levels of minerals like copper, magnesium, and manganese. Magnesium is essential for bone strengthening and has a cardiac-protective role as well. Manganese is used by the body as a co-factor for the antioxidant enzyme, superoxide dismutase. Copper is required in the production of red blood cells.
• Fresh banana is a very rich source of potassium. 100 g fruit provides 358 mg potassium. Potassium is an important component of cell and body fluids that helps control heart rate and blood pressure, countering bad effects of sodium.

Read More

Health benefits of Persimmon (Japani Phal)

 

By Mohammed Rashid, Qarshi industries Pakistan

Diospyros kaki is the botanical name of Persimmon or Japani Phal. Diospyros comes from the ancient Greek words, this means more or less "divine fruit", though its literal meaning is more like "Wheat of Zeus".

This species, native to China, is deciduous, with broad, stiff leaves. Cultivation of the fruit extended to East Asia, California, Europe and Brazil.

Its trees have been 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 tannins and 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.

Health benefits:

1. They are also a very good source of vitamin-C. Regular consumption of foods rich in vitamin C helps the body develop resistance against infectious agents and scavenge harmful, pro-inflammatory free radicals.

2. 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.

3. Persimmons are replete with many phyto-nutrients flavonoid poly-phenolic anti-oxidants. Catechins and gallocatechins as well as important anti-tumor compound betulinic acid contained in this fruit is said to be highly beneficial for health. Catechins are known to have anti-infective, anti-inflammatory and anti-hemorrhagic properties.

4. Fresh persimmon fruits contain healthy amounts of minerals like potassium, manganese, copper and phosphorus. These minerals are believed to be powerful free radical scavengers and boost the production of blood cells.

References:

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persimmon

2. http://www.nutrition-and-you.com/persimmon-fruit.html

3. http://www.unp.me/f150/benefits-of-persimmon-74357/#ixzz2Bo1W1UsC

4.http://www.unp.me/f150/benefits-of-persimmon-74357/

5. http://www.ehow.com/info_8235315_benefits-persimmons.html

6. http://www.fruithealthbenefits.com/health-benefits-of-persimmons.shtml

Read More