Kiwi fruit

Kiwifruit

Packed with more vitamin C than an equivalent amount of orange, the bright green flesh of the kiwifruit speckled with tiny black seeds adds a dramatic tropical flair to any fruit salad. California kiwifruit is available November through May, while the New Zealand crop hits the market June through October making fresh kiwis available year round.

The kiwifruit is a small fruit approximately 3 inches long and weighing about four ounces. Its green flesh is almost creamy in consistency with an invigorating taste reminiscent of strawberries, melons and bananas, yet with its own unique sweet flavor.

 Health BenefitsKiwifruit 

Kiwifruit can offer a great deal more than an exotic tropical flair in your fruit salad. These emerald delights contain numerous phytonutrients as well as well known vitamins and minerals that promote your health.

Kiwi's Phytonutrients Protect DNA

In the world of phytonutrient research, kiwifruit has fascinated researchers for its ability to protect DNA in the nucleus of human cells from oxygen-related damage. Researchers are not yet certain which compounds in kiwi give it this protective antioxidant capacity, but they are sure that this healing property is not limited to those nutrients most commonly associated with kiwifruit, including its vitamin C or beta-carotene content. Since kiwi contains a variety of flavonoids and carotenoids that have demonstrated antioxidant activity, these phytonutrients in kiwi may be responsible for this DNA protection.

The protective properties of kiwi have been demonstrated in a study with 6- and 7-year-old children in northern and central Italy. The more kiwi or citrus fruit these children consumed, the less likely they were to have respiratory-related health problems including wheezing, shortness of breath, or night coughing. These same antioxidant protective properties may have been involved in providing protection for these children.

Kiwifruit Offers Premier Antioxidant Protection

Kiwifruit emerged from our food ranking system as an excellent source of vitamin C. This nutrient is the primary water-soluble antioxidant in the body, neutralizing free radicals that can cause damage to cells and lead to problems such as inflammation and cancer. In fact, adequate intake of vitamin C has been shown to be helpful in reducing the severity of conditions like osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and asthma, and for preventing conditions such as colon cancer, atherosclerosis, and diabetic heart disease. And since vitamin C is necessary for the healthy function of the immune system, it may be useful for preventing recurrent ear infections in people who suffer from them. Owing to the multitude of vitamin C's health benefits, it is not surprising that research has shown that consumption of vegetables and fruits high in this nutrient is associated with a reduced risk of death from all causes including heart disease, stroke and cancer.

Fiber—Concentrated in Kiwifruit—for Blood Sugar Control Plus Cardiovascular and Colon Health

Our food ranking system also qualified kiwifruit as a very good source of dietary fiber. The fiber in kiwifruit has also been shown to be useful for a number of conditions. Researchers have found that diets that contain plenty of fiber can reduce high cholesterol levels, which may reduce the risk of heart disease and heart attack. Fiber is also good for binding and removing toxins from the colon, which is helpful for preventing colon cancer. In addition, fiber-rich foods, like kiwifruit, are good for keeping the blood sugar levels of diabetic patients under control.

Kiwifruit also passed our food ranking test as a good source of the mineral potassium.

Kiwifruit's Potential Protection against Asthma

Eating vitamin C-rich fruit such as kiwi may confer a significant protective effect against respiratory symptoms associated with asthma such as wheezing.

A study published in Thorax that followed over 18,000 children aged 6-7 years living in Central and Northern Italy found that those eating the most citrus and kiwifruit (5-7 servings per week) had 44% less incidence of wheezing compared to children eating the least (less than once a week). Shortness of breath was reduced by 32%, severe wheeze by 41%, night time cough by 27%, chronic cough by 25%, and runny nose by 28%.

Children who had asthma when the study began appeared to benefit the most, and protective effects were evident even among children who ate fruit only once or twice a week.

Kiwifruit's Potential Protection against Macular Degeneration

Your mother may have told you carrots would keep your eyes bright as a child, but as an adult, it looks like fruit is even more important for keeping your sight. Data reported in a study published in the Archives of Opthamology indicates that eating 3 or more servings of fruit per day may lower your risk of age-related macular degeneration (ARMD), the primary cause of vision loss in older adults, by 36%, compared to persons who consume less than 1.5 servings of fruit daily.

In this study, which involved over 110,000 women and men, researchers evaluated the effect of study participants' consumption of fruits; vegetables; the antioxidant vitamins A, C, and E; and carotenoids on the development of early ARMD or neovascular ARMD, a more severe form of the illness associated with vision loss. Food intake information was collected periodically for up to 18 years for women and 12 years for men. While, surprisingly, intakes of vegetables, antioxidant vitamins and carotenoids were not strongly related to incidence of either form of ARM, fruit intake was definitely protective against the severe form of this vision-destroying disease. Three servings of fruit may sound like a lot to eat each day, but kiwifruit can help you reach this goal. Slice kiwi over your morning cereal, lunch time yogurt or green salads. For a more elegant meal, decorate any fish dish or fruit salad with kiwi slices.

Kiwifruit is a Delicious Way to Enjoy Cardiovascular Health

Enjoying just a couple of kiwifruit each day may significantly lower your risk for blood clots and reduce the amount of fats (triglycerides) in your blood, therefore helping to protect cardiovascular health.

Unlike aspirin, which also helps to reduce blood clotting but has side effects such as inflammation and bleeding in the intestinal tract, the effects of regular kiwi consumption are all beneficial. Kiwifruit is an excellent source of vitamin C, and polyphenols, and a good source of potassium, all of which may function individually or in concert to protect the blood vessels and heart. In one study, human volunteers who ate 2 to 3 kiwifruit per day for 28 days reduced their platelet aggregation response (potential for blood clot formation) by 18% compared to controls eating no kiwi. In addition, kiwi eaters' triglycerides (blood fats) dropped by 15% compared to controls.

Description

The kiwifruit is a little fruit holding great surprises. The most common species of kiwifruit is Actinidia deliciosa, commonly known as Hayward kiwi. Inside of this small, oval-shaped fruit featuring brown fuzzy skin resides a brilliant, semi-translucent emerald green flesh speckled with a few concentrically arranged white veins and small black seeds. Its flesh is almost creamy in consistency with an invigorating taste reminiscent of a mixture of strawberries and bananas, yet with its own unique sweet flavor.

With the growing interest in kiwifruit, other species are now becoming more widely available. These include the hardy kiwi and the silvervine kiwi, two smooth-skinned varieties that are the size of cherries and whose flesh has a golden yellow-green hue.

Introduction to Food Rating System Chart

In order to better help you identify foods that feature a high concentration of nutrients for the calories they contain, we created a Food Rating System. This system allows us to highlight the foods that are especially rich in particular nutrients. The following chart shows the nutrients for which this food is either an excellent, very good, or good source (below the chart you will find a table that explains these qualifications). If a nutrient is not listed in the chart, it does not necessarily mean that the food doesn't contain it. It simply means that the nutrient is not provided in a sufficient amount or concentration to meet our rating criteria. (To view this food's in-depth nutritional profile that includes values for dozens of nutrients - not just the ones rated as excellent, very good, or good - please use the link below the chart.) To read this chart accurately, you'll need to glance up in the top left corner where you will find the name of the food and the serving size we used to calculate the food's nutrient composition. This serving size will tell you how much of the food you need to eat to obtain the amount of nutrients found in the chart. Now, returning to the chart itself, you can look next to the nutrient name in order to find the nutrient amount it offers, the percent Daily Value (DV%) that this amount represents, the nutrient density that we calculated for this food and nutrient, and the rating we established in our rating system. For most of our nutrient ratings, we adopted the government standards for food labeling that are found in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's "Reference Values for Nutrition Labeling.

Kiwifruit, fresh 1.00 2 inches 69.00 grams Calories: 42 GI: low
Nutrient	Amount	DRI/DV (%)	Nutrient Density	World's Healthiest Foods Rating
vitamin C	63.96 mg	85	36.5	excellent
vitamin K	27.81 mcg	31	13.2	excellent
copper	0.09 mg	10	4.3	very good
fiber	2.07 g	7	3.2	good
vitamin E	1.01 mg (ATE)	7	2.9	good
potassium	215.28 mg	5	2.0	good
folate	17.25 mcg	4	1.8	good

World's Healthiest Foods Rating	Rule
excellent	DRI/DV>=75% OR Density>=7.6 AND DRI/DV>=10%
very good	DRI/DV>=50% OR Density>=3.4 AND DRI/DV>=5%
good	DRI/DV>=25% OR Density>=1.5 AND DRI/DV>=2.5%

In-Depth Nutritional Profile

In addition to the nutrients highlighted in our ratings chart, here is an in-depth nutritional profile for Kiwifruit. This profile includes information on a full array of nutrients, including carbohydrates, sugar, soluble and insoluble fiber, sodium, vitamins, minerals, fatty acids, amino acids and more.

Kiwifruit, fresh (Note: "--" indicates data unavailable)
1.00 2 inches (69.00 g)					GI: low
BASIC MACRONUTRIENTS AND CALORIES
nutrient					amount			DRI/DV (%)
Protein					0.79 g			2
Carbohydrates					10.12 g			4
Fat - total					0.36 g			0
Dietary Fiber					2.07 g			7
Calories					42.09			2
MACRONUTRIENT AND CALORIE DETAIL
nutrient					amount			DRI/DV (%)
Carbohydrate:
Starch					-- g
Total Sugars					6.20 g
Monosaccharides					5.95 g
Fructose					3.00 g
Glucose					2.84 g
Galactose					0.12 g
Disaccharides					0.23 g
Lactose					0.00 g
Maltose					0.13 g
Sucrose					0.10 g
Soluble Fiber					-- g
Insoluble Fiber					-- g
Other Carbohydrates					1.84 g
Fat:
Monounsaturated Fat					0.03 g
Polyunsaturated Fat					0.20 g
Saturated Fat					0.02 g
Trans Fat					0.00 g
Calories from Fat					3.23
Calories from Saturated Fat					0.18
Calories from Trans Fat					0.00
Cholesterol					0.00 mg
Water					57.32 g
MICRONUTRIENTS
nutrient					amount			DRI/DV (%)
Vitamins
Water-Soluble Vitamins
B-Complex Vitamins
Vitamin B1					0.02 mg			2
Vitamin B2					0.02 mg			2
Vitamin B3					0.24 mg			2
Vitamin B3 (Niacin Equivalents)					0.41 mg
Vitamin B6					0.04 mg			2
Vitamin B12					0.00 mcg			0
Biotin					-- mcg			--
Choline					5.38 mg			1
Folate					17.25 mcg			4
Folate (DFE)					17.25 mcg
Folate (food)					17.25 mcg
Pantothenic Acid					0.13 mg			3
Vitamin C					63.96 mg			85
Fat-Soluble Vitamins
Vitamin A (Retinoids and Carotenoids)
Vitamin A International Units (IU)					60.03 IU
Vitamin A mcg Retinol Activity Equivalents (RAE)					3.00 mcg (RAE)			0
Vitamin A mcg Retinol Equivalents (RE)					6.00 mcg (RE)
Retinol mcg Retinol Equivalents (RE)					0.00 mcg (RE)
Carotenoid mcg Retinol Equivalents (RE)					6.00 mcg (RE)
Alpha-Carotene					0.00 mcg
Beta-Carotene					35.88 mcg
Beta-Carotene Equivalents					35.88 mcg
Cryptoxanthin					0.00 mcg
Lutein and Zeaxanthin					84.18 mcg
Lycopene					0.00 mcg
Vitamin D
Vitamin D International Units (IU)					0.00 IU			0
Vitamin D mcg					0.00 mcg
Vitamin E
Vitamin E mg Alpha-Tocopherol Equivalents (ATE)					1.01 mg (ATE)			7
Vitamin E International Units (IU)					1.50 IU
Vitamin E mg					1.01 mg
Vitamin K					27.81 mcg			31
Minerals
nutrient					amount			DRI/DV (%)
Boron					-- mcg
Calcium					23.46 mg			2
Chloride					26.91 mg
Chromium					-- mcg			--
Copper					0.09 mg			10
Fluoride					-- mg			--
Iodine					-- mcg			--
Iron					0.21 mg			1
Magnesium					11.73 mg			3
Manganese					0.07 mg			3
Molybdenum					-- mcg			--
Phosphorus					23.46 mg			3
Potassium					215.28 mg			5
Selenium					0.14 mcg			0
Sodium					2.07 mg			0
Zinc					0.10 mg			1
INDIVIDUAL FATTY ACIDS
nutrient		amount					DRI/DV (%)
Omega-3 Fatty Acids		0.03 g					1
Omega-6 Fatty Acids		0.17 g
Monounsaturated Fats
14:1 Myristoleic	0.00 g
15:1 Pentadecenoic	0.00 g
16:1 Palmitol	0.00 g
17:1 Heptadecenoic	0.00 g
18:1 Oleic	0.03 g
20:1 Eicosenoic	0.00 g
22:1 Erucic	0.00 g
24:1 Nervonic	0.00 g
Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids
18:2 Linoleic				0.17 g
18:2 Conjugated Linoleic (CLA)				-- g
18:3 Linolenic				0.03 g
18:4 Stearidonic				0.00 g
20:3 Eicosatrienoic				0.00 g
20:4 Arachidonic				0.00 g
20:5 Eicosapentaenoic (EPA)				0.00 g
22:5 Docosapentaenoic (DPA)				0.00 g
22:6 Docosahexaenoic (DHA)				0.00 g
Saturated Fatty Acids
4:0 Butyric			0.00 g
6:0 Caproic			0.00 g
8:0 Caprylic			0.00 g
10:0 Capric			0.00 g
12:0 Lauric			0.00 g
14:0 Myristic			0.00 g
15:0 Pentadecanoic			0.00 g
16:0 Palmitic			0.01 g
17:0 Margaric			0.00 g
18:0 Stearic			0.01 g
20:0 Arachidic			0.00 g
22:0 Behenate			0.00 g
24:0 Lignoceric			0.00 g
INDIVIDUAL AMINO ACIDS
nutrient					amount			DRI/DV (%)
Alanine					0.04 g
Arginine					0.06 g
Aspartic Acid					0.09 g
Cysteine					0.02 g
Glutamic Acid					0.13 g
Glycine					0.04 g
Histidine					0.02 g
Isoleucine					0.04 g
Leucine					0.05 g
Lysine					0.04 g
Methionine					0.02 g
Phenylalanine					0.03 g
Proline					0.03 g
Serine					0.04 g
Threonine					0.03 g
Tryptophan					0.01 g
Tyrosine					0.02 g
Valine					0.04 g
OTHER COMPONENTS
nutrient					amount			DRI/DV (%)
Ash					0.42 g
Organic Acids (Total)					-- g
Acetic Acid					-- g
Citric Acid					-- g
Lactic Acid					-- g
Malic Acid					-- g
Taurine					-- g
Sugar Alcohols (Total)					-- g
Glycerol					-- g
Inositol					-- g
Mannitol					-- g
Sorbitol					-- g
Xylitol					-- g
Artificial Sweeteners (Total)					-- mg
Aspartame					-- mg
Saccharin					-- mg
Alcohol					0.00 g
Caffeine					0.00 mg
Note: The nutrient profiles provided in this website are derived from The Food Processor, Version 10.12.0, ESHA Research, Salem, Oregon, USA. Among the 50,000+ food items in the master database and 163 nutritional components per item, specific nutrient values were frequently missing from any particular food item. We chose the designation "--" to represent those nutrients for which no value was included in this version of the database.

References

• Cho E, Seddon JM, Rosner B, Willett WC, Hankinson SE. Prospective study of intake of fruits, vegetables, vitamins, and carotenoids and risk of age-related maculopathy. Arch Ophthalmol. 2004 Jun;122(6):883-92. 2004. PMID:15197064.
• Collins BH, Horska A, Hotten PM, et al. Kiwifruit protects against oxidative DNA damage in human cells and in vitro. Nutr Cancer 2001;39(1):148-53. 2001. PMID:13330.
• Duttaroy A, Jørgensen A. Effects of kiwi fruit consumption on platelet aggregation and plasma lipids in healthy human volunteers. Platelets 2004 Aug;15(5):287-292. 2004. PMID:15370099.
• Ensminger AH, Ensminger, ME, Kondale JE, Robson JRK. Foods & Nutriton Encyclopedia. Pegus Press, Clovis, California. 1983.
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• Forastiere F, Pistelli R, Sestini P, et al. Consumption of fresh fruit rich in vitamin C and wheezing symptoms in children. SIDRIA Collaborative Group, Italy (Italian Studies on Respiratory Disorders in Children and the Environment). Thorax 2000 Apr;55(4):283-8. 2000. PMID:13360.
• Fortin, Francois, Editorial Director. The Visual Foods Encyclopedia. Macmillan, New York. 1996.
• Gil MI, Aguayo E, Kader AA. Quality changes and nutrient retention in fresh-cut versus whole fruits during storage. J Agric Food Chem. 2006 Jun 14;54(12):4284-96. 2006. PMID:16756358.
• Ikken Y, Morales P, Martinez A, et al. Antimutagenic effect of fruit and vegetable ethanolic extracts against N-nitrosamines evaluated by the Ames test. J Agric Food Chem 1999 Aug;47(8):3257-64. 1999. PMID:13350.
• Khaw KT, Bingham S, Welch A, et al. Relation between plasma ascorbic acid and mortality in men and women in EPIC-Norfolk prospective study: a prospective population study. European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition. Lancet. 2001 Mar 3;357(9257):657-63. 2001.
• Kurl S, Tuomainen TP, Laukkanen JA et al. Plasma vitamin C modifies the association between hypertension and risk of stroke. Stroke 2002 Jun;33(6):1568-73. 2002.
• Maillar C. [The kiwi, rich in vitamins C and E and also in potassium]. Servir 1998 May-1998 Jun 30;46(3):160. 1998. PMID:13380.
• Sommerburg O, Keunen JE, Bird AC, van Kuijk FJ. Fruits and vegetables that are sources for lutein and zeaxanthin: the macular pigment in human eyes. Br J Ophthalmol 1998 Aug;82(8):907-10. 1998. PMID:13370.
• Wood, Rebecca. The Whole Foods Encyclopedia. New York, NY: Prentice-Hall Press; 1988. 1988. PMID:15220.

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