Health Benefits of Fruit and Berries

Longan - dimocarpus longan

2009-08-25T20:24:00.003+10:00

The longan fruit tree, also known as dragon's eye, is a fine-looking, close relative of the Lychee tree, with a likewise growth and fruiting habits, but much bigger, stronger and more tolerant to cold. The tree can grow up to 12 meters in height and 14 m in width. The longan is a member of the Sapindaceae family, genus Dimocarpus, native to southerly China.

Longan fruit trees need sandy soil and temperatures that do not generally go below 5 degrees Celsius. They are highly ornamental trees with beautiful, evergreen, alternate leaves, 10-20 cm in length and 3-5 cm in width with 4 to 10 opposite leaflets. Leaves are leathery, rippled, glossy-green on the top, minutely hairy and grayish-green below.

Bunches of yellow flowers with a terrific scent and 5- 6-petals, are borne in vertical terminal panicles, mixed together male and female. The fruit is edible, developed in droopy bundles, is spherical, very sweet, juicy and lush, in superior agricultural varieties fruit grows over 25mm in diameter, with thin, brittle, brownish-yellow to light auburn skin, with more or less rough surface.

With the early, mid and late season cultivars output can stretch out from mid summertime into mid autumn. Some of the cultivars include Haew, Kohala, Biew Kiew and Chompoo. The fruit is essential to be mature when picked. Aside from consumed fresh is also frequently used in snacks, desserts and sweet-and-sour foods and occasionally found canned with syrup in supermarkets.

Longans could be propagated by grafting or marcotting. Trees start to yield fruit in approximately the fourth year.

Longan, dragon's eye, Dimocarpus longan

The Health Benefits of the Humble Apple

2009-08-16T20:38:00.004+10:00

It is no coincidence that apples are the symbolic representation of good health. We nowadays know that there is a sound basis for the well-known "apple a day" rhyme. Apples just make good sense as an every day part of the human dieting.

“Studies more and more offer evidence that it is the cumulative and combined effects of the phytochemicals present in fruits and vegetables that are responsible for their powerful antioxidant and an antineoplastic activity…..supposes Dr. Rui Hai Liu, Cornell Associate Professor of Food Science. Antioxidants in fruits and vegetables help prevent cancer by mopping up cell-damaging free radicals and suppressing the production of oxidisable substances that may harm normal cells.

An apple a day can keep breast cancer away, according to a study. Cornell University has carried the first-ever study, chaired by Dr. Rui Hai Liu, on the primary effects of apples on breast cancer prevention in animals. It appears the more apples consumed the more expectant the reduction in the relative incidence and number of breast cancer tumors....said Dr. Liu.

Apple Nutritional Facts Worthy of Thinking About

* One apple offers as much dietary fiber as a bowl of bran cereal. That is equivalent to one-fifth of the suggested each day intake of fiber.

* The complex carbohydrates in apples contribute to your body a lengthier, more even energy rise compared to high-sugar snacks. Snacking on apples can keep you getting on throughout the day.

* Apples are utterly fat-free!

* Apples are loaded up with pectin, a water-soluble fiber that assists digestion and might assist in reducing cancer and heart condition.

* Apples supply boron (B), an essential trace element that assists in the hardening of bones. Strong bones help reduce incidents of osteoporosis.

apple, health benefits of apples

Pomegranate - punica granatum | An Unusual many-seeded Berry

2009-08-08T13:24:00.002+10:00

Pomegranate, punica granatum, is a beautiful shrub or small fruit producing tree, 6 to 10 m high. It is a member of the Lythraceae family, genus Punica. The pomegranate tree is much-branched, more or less prickly, and extremely long-lived. It is a native from Iran to the Himalayas in northerly India.

The leaves are evergreen or deciduous, opposite, short-stemmed, narrow-oblong 1-10 cm in length and leathery. Flowers are showy, brilliantly red, on branch peaks, individually or in bunch, of as many as 5, thick, tubular, 3 cm wide and 5 cm long. The pomegranate is both self-fertilized and cross-pollinated by insects.

The fruit is almost round, crowned at the base by the prominent calyx, 7 -15 cm wide, has a tough, leathery skin or peel, essentially yellow more or less covered with light or deep pink or rich red. The fruits ripen 6 to 7 months after blossoming. For good fruit production, the tree must be irrigated.

The fruit is made into juice, beverages or for enjoying out-of-hand. Grenadine syrup is thick and sweet pomegranate juice utilized in cocktail mixing. In preliminary laboratory research and human pilot studies, juice of the pomegranate was useful in reducing heart disease risk factors.

The fruit's interior is divided by membrane-forming walls and white sponge like tissue (rag) into compartments compacted with thin sacs filled with tangy, tasteful juicy red or pink pulp. The fruit is technically a leathery-skinned berry containing numerous seeds, each rounded by a juicy, fleshy aril.

The pomegranate is mainly a mild-temperate to subtropical fruit tree naturally adjusted to regions with cool wintertime and hot summertime. Pomegranates flourish on chalky, alkaline soil and on deep, acidic loam and a wide array of soils in between these extremes.

Pomegranates can be propagated by cuttings or by layering. Softwood cuttings taken in summertime are easy to take root, as are hardwood cuttings taken in wintertime. Although easy to grow from seeds, pomegranate seedlings can't be anticipated to resemble their parent plant.

pomegranate,punica granatum

Berries | Healthy Skin with Berries

2009-07-27T16:15:00.002+10:00

Are you looking to obtain the best food for skin wellness? Healthy skin can be obtained by applying appropriate and suitable for your type skin care products such as fine quality skin cleansing agents and moisturizing lotions and ointments. However, the best skin care regime requires that you are paying attention to both the outside and inside needs of the skin.

Skin demands nutrients derivable from within the body in order to protect it self from harm and replenish dead skin cells with fresh healthy new cells. Consuming the best food for skin goes a long way towards getting the best and soundest looking skin possible. On this point there are numerous foods that if consumed on a regular basis as part of a general well-adjusted diet will benefit the skin.

However, some foods are better than others and consuming these foods allows the additional nutrients involved to boost your skin’s health and give you that great skin complexion you wanted all of the time. Such best foods include fruit more specifically BERRIES!

Berries such as blueberries, raspberries, blackcurrants, cranberries, blackberries and strawberries are fruit that provide good and effective food for skin. Broadly speaking, berries assist the body to construct collagen which makes the skin supple and fluent.

Berries, and especially blueberries, are laded with antioxidant chemical compounds that are very effectual in counteracting destructive free radicals that lead in skin cell harm and early skin aging generated by excessive UV exposure or from other external and internal sources.

Blueberries and the other berries are a first-class source of vitamin C, vitamin E, riboflavin, and both water-soluble and insoluble fiber. They also contain anthocyanins that act to tone up the walls of the tiny blood vessels that supplying nutrients to the skin. Consequently, eating berries could also help stop the formation of spider veins.

berries, healthy skin

Blackberry Fruit | Health Benefits and History of Blackberries

2009-07-13T19:51:00.001+10:00

Blackberry bushes are grown all over the world and they have been recognised in past times by numerous names, such as brumblekites, brambleberries and lawers! Blackberry vines or bushes are indigenous on every continent except Australia (introduced) and Antarctic continent. Blackberry plants are fruit producing vines. Most botanists classify blackberry plants into 3 types, Erect, trailing vines, and semi-erect plants.

The berries from the blackberry plant, also called blackberries, are jammed with antioxidants such as anthocyanins and polyphenols. In the top of antioxidant 'league', blackberries are rattling very high. In reality they are in the top ten. As we know, antioxidants are champion fighters of free radicals. Blackberries measure up first-rate on the ORAC list too. These awesome berries hand over a thumping 2036 units per 100 grams. They are VERY astounding indeed.

We are assured that a good formula to distinguish an antioxidant-rich fruit or vegetable is by its dense and dark-skinned colors, well just consider a blackberry, it goes through that test hands down. If you are going to bring in blackberries into your diet, try not to have them on their own. It is suggested that they should consumed with other berries, such as raspberries, cranberries, blueberries and strawberries in which case you will benefit to a greater extent from mixing them together.

Blackberries are as well rich in manganese and vitamin C. It is all important to have sufficient vitamin C as a deficiency of it can undermine our immune system, which in turn could make you distressed and run down. Additional good sources of manganese and vitamin C are strawberries raspberries and blackcurrants.

Superstitious notion in the UK holds that blackberries shouldn't be picked later than Michaelmas (29 September) as the devil lays claim on them, he leaves a mark on the foliage by urinating on them. There is some value behind this fable as after this day of the month damper and cooler weather condition oftentimes allows the fruit to become infected by different molds such as Botryotinia which give the fruit an objectionable look and might be harmful.

Blackberries, blackberry

Goji Berry Health Benefits | Chinese Wolfberries

2009-06-25T22:33:00.004+10:00

Although was a mystery to the West for a long time, the benefits of the Goji fruit, lyceum barbarum, was not a secret to those in China and other Asian countries. So what is the goji fruit, how could somebody benefit from?

Goji berry is the common name for the fruit of two very closely related species: Lycium barbarum and L. chinense. This fruit bearing plant is as well known as Chinese wolfberry, matrimony vine and red medlar. It thrives in Asia and more specifically the western part of China, Tibet and Mongolia.

The Goji bush has vines that could grow 3 to 4 meters high and 3 meters across. It produces a beaming orange-red, ellipsoid berry 1-2 cm long containing anywhere between 10-60 tiny yellow seeds. The number of seeds in each berry varies widely based on cultivar and fruit size. The fruits also called goji berries can be consumed fresh, dried or squeezed into a drinkable juice.

Research outcomes from over 60 health studies; daily consumption of goji fruit, has shown ability of the fruit to raise the health of the body in several ways. Some of the health benefits include; expanded energy levels, weight loss, improvement of the digestive system and processes, prevention of macular degeneration and anti-aging properties.

The rapidly rising attention for Goji berries or wolfberries is founded on their nutrient value and antioxidant content. Fruits are conserved by drying them in full sun on open trays or by mechanical dehydration utilizing an increasingly rising series of heat exposure over 48 hours.

goji fruit, goji berries, Chinese wolfberries

Acai Berry | Amazonian Berry Fruit Benefits

2009-06-09T20:27:00.004+10:00

An Indigenous Amazonian berry fruit, the Acai, has quickly fascinated health conscious people. This fruit bearing plant was already in use quite extensively in South America. As selective information accumulates about this super fruit more and more folks across the world become aware of, the realization of Acai berry based products is also expending.

This is more so since the fresh Acai, with its great taste similar to a taste of berries and chocolate blend, could go stale quickly.

Acai products in the form of juice, capsules, etc, are used for a lot of health benefits, but one that has captured the attention of millions is weight loss. Since so many people use or will use Acai products, for a range of health benefits, here are a couple of crucial points to remember.

1) Always examine the product's details prior to using it and comply with the directions given.

2) Choose Acai berry products with organic ingredients since additional added products may have no benefit.

With more than 10 times the antioxidant capacity of grapes and twice the antioxidants of blueberries, the Brazilian Acai berry fruit is regarded to have the best nutritional value of any fruit on earth. Acai berries being mixed and made into everything from energy drinks to shampoo.

Few of the health benefits linked with the Acai berry is:

• Increased sustained energy
• Improvement of the gastrointestinal tract
• Invigoration of the immune system
• Help with cholesterol management
• Lowering of inflammation
• Increase in blood circulation

acai berry, berry fruit, acai berry fruit

Eat Fruit-Eat for Health

2009-05-25T18:46:00.007+10:00

We all know more or less several of the health benefits from eating fruit. But why eat fruit? In addition to essential vitamins, minerals and antioxidants fruit is usually a good source of vitamin C an excellent source of potassium, a mineral required by the kidneys in order to flush unnecessary sodium from the body and reduce the risk of developing health conditions running from water retention to hypertension.

In addition, fruit including berries is of the most palatable, easily digestible foods. With very few exceptions fruit requires no cooking no processing and no condiments to enjoy. Most significantly however fruit has the highest body purifying properties of all food.

Fruit is a fast-acting source of energy its cholesterol free and has whole lot of fiber. There is no other food than fruit on this planet that contains on average 80% water. Make fruit a regular even daily food in your family and save confectionery and high-sugar, high-fat snack foods for treats.

Maximum protection from eating fruit comes from eating a mixture of all types of fruit including bananas, apples, oranges, pineapples, berries, etc. Since each type contains elements (phytochemicals) that reinforce one another and promote health benefits fuel your body with the right food.

eat fruit, fruit, eat fruit for health

Berry Fruits

2009-05-17T11:37:00.006+10:00

The botanic definition of a berry fruit is that of a simple fruit developed from a single ovary, such as a grape or a tomato. However, in day-to-day English, is a term for any small eatable fruit.

One of the worldwide most likable fruits is berries. The main berries grown commercially are strawberries, blackcurrants, raspberries, and blueberries. However, there are additional kinds that have slowly started to reach the marketplaces.

A lot of berries are eaten raw and supply from 50 to 100 calories per serve portion. Berries are jammed with vitamin C, potassium, and fiber. In general, berry fruits should be dry, firm, well shaped, plump, smooth-skinned and eaten inside a week after purchase.

It is better to buy berry fruits that are ‘in-season'. If you have bought too many or you might have grown your own, in case you can not eat them before long, remember that berries freeze very well and this means you could enjoy them year round.

The secret to successful berry freezing is to use unwashed and totally dry berries prior to putting them in a single bed on a cookie sheet in the deep freezer. When the berries are frozen, shift them to plastic clean bags or freezer containers. Frozen berries should last roughly one year.

There are a lot of types of berries cultivated and wild. Strawberries are not regarded a ‘true’ berry, as they don't rise from a flower ovary but from the base of the strawberry plant. However, they are the most popular of all the berries, and have got the most vitamin C of all berries.

Berries need less space than fruit trees, and they can be easily grown in the garden or in pots and produce scrumptious juice low calorie fruit. Berries have been well-known for more than 2000 years, since the time of the Greek and Roman cultivations.

berry, fruit, berry fruits

Health Benefits of Fruit Eating

2009-05-10T20:44:00.013+10:00

Eating fruit offers numerous health benefits - people who eat more fruit as part of a total healthy dieting are likely to have a lowered risk of some chronic degenerative diseases. Fruit supply food nutrients essential for health and care of your body.

According to numerous research accounts:

• Eating a diet that includes plenty of fruit and berries, as part of a total healthy diet, might reduce the danger for suffering a stroke and other cardiovascular diseases.
• A diet rich in fruit and berries may protect against mouth, stomach, colon and rectal cancers.
• Since all fruit is a rich source of fiber, low in salt and none has cholesterol, a diet rich in fruit may assist in the reduction of coronary heart disease incidents.
• Adequate quantities of fruit and berries in the diet will supply sufficient amounts of the mineral potassium (sustain healthy blood pressure), vitamin C (development and restore of all body tissues) and folate(establishment of red blood cells).
• A diet rich in fruit and berries might be helpful in lowering calorie intake; most fruit are by nature low in fat and calories and supply essential minerals, vitamins and antioxidants.

Eating some fruit daily provides to your body with quality food, rich with medicinal properties that promote health. You may like to grow some fruit trees yourself in your back yard, for a fresh continues supply of health giving colorful fruit. You can found a large list of fruit trees and relevant information at my Fruit and Nut Trees blog.