We all have our fruit preferences but very few of us know enough about the fruits we often consume. Some of the facts are quite startling and need to be popularized.
Bananas: The Wonder Fruit
Bananas are not only radioactive [containing Potassium-40, a radioactive isotope of potassium], there are over 1000 varieties of banana plants. Interestingly, most banana plants today are descendants or clones or one single Cavendish banana plant originating in Asia, which makes banana plants very vulnerable. Over 100 billion bananas are yearly consumed by us, making it one of the most important of fruits.
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Mangoes: World Favorites since Eternity
More fresh mangoes are eaten everyday than any other fruit. While India produce 51% of mangoes produced worldwide, china follows a distant second at 9%. Mangoes can provide 100% of you daily Vitamin C, 35% of your daily Vitamin A and 12% of your daily fiber along with 70 to 100 calories per mango.
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Fruits and Personalities:
Your favorite fruit says a lot about your personality, where certain fruits stand for certain personality types. For example, where the mango represents the inspirer, a guava stands for a risk-taker. Papaya, coconut, and watermelons stand for nurturers, caregivers and dreamers respectively.
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Fruits and Seasons:
Certain fruits are available in certain seasons only. For example, while apricots are found primarily between May to July, blueberries are harvested from May to August. Summer harvest includes chiefly apricots, blueberries, cherries, figs, peaches and raspberries and winter harvest include apples, kiwis, lime and pomegranates.
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Apples and More:
China produces 44% of the world’s apples while Russia is the top buyer of the fruit spending nearly 550 million USD in purchasing apples. Interestingly, 71 million tones of apples were produced in the year 2009, the combined cost of which was around 30 billion dollars. The average area of an apple orchard in the US is 50 acres. The apple has a venerable heritage too, with the first apples being cultivated around 8000BC me Mesopotamians.
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Some Facts about Superfruits:
Superfruit is the term ascribed to fruits which have special nutritional benefits. For example strawberries today are seen to help in gargling, and contain high amounts of tannins as well as proanthocyanidins in them. Mangosteen on the other hand contains 39 different types of xanthones, as well as catechins and proanthocyanidins. Blackcurrants increase the flow of urine and induce perspiration leading to relief in the case of high fever. Raspberries too have over 200 variants and 50% higher antioxidant levels as compared to strawberries.
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Calorie Count and Your Favorite Fruit:
You now don’t need to worry over the sugar balance and calorie content of your favorite fruit. Most of the beneficial fruits also contain few calories. A medium banana contains 105 calories whereas 1/2 medium papaya contains 59 calories. 1/2 cup blueberry contains around 41 calories.
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The Health Benefits of Pineapple:
Vitamin C, bromelain, manganese, Vitamin A and phosphorus are some of the nutrients and minerals offered by pineapples. Post digestion ulcers, cancerous tumors are kept at bay while bone formation, growth, health skin are accelerated by this common fruit.
An Avocado a Day Keeps the Doctor Away:
Avocados are excellent in preventing eye related disorders since it provides lutein. The cardiovascular system is benefited through the production of oleic acid and vitamin B6. Thus this humble fruit has huge health benefits.
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