All-Star of the Day: Kiwi

This little fuzzy guy from the Far East (kiwis are native to China) is quite the nutrition master.

Kiwi is, hands down, one of the best sources of Vitamin C. One cup of the egg-shaped citrus fruit packs 5 grams of fiber, 273% of our vitamin C needs, 13% of our daily vitamin E recommended intake, and 16% of the hypertension-preventing potassium we should get each day into just 108 calories!

The high antioxidant activity in kiwi has also shown a lot of promise.

A 2004 study at Norway’s University of Oslo published in the August 2004 issue of peer-reviewed journal Platelets concluded that after eating two to three kiwi fruits a day, test subjects lowered their risk of forming blood clots by approximately 20 percent. How? Certain phytonutrients (plant chemicals) in kiwi make blood platelets less sticky, therefore making it harder for them to lump together in the walls of our arteries. Sweet!

This same study also found that these same subjects reduced their triglycerides (a type of blood fat associated with an increase in heart disease risk) level by 15 percent.

It gets better! A study at Great Britain’s Rowett Research Institute demonstrated that just eating one kiwi a day helped damaged DNA – which has the potential to increase our risk of developing many cancers – repair itself! This is huge. Many foods are able to help decrease the risk of DNA damage, but certain antioxidants in kiwi are able to undo the damage to some extent.

A word of warning – be cautious when feeding kiwi to infants and young children. A study at England’s Southampton University’s Allergy and Inflammation Services unit published in the July 2004 edition of Clinical and Experimental Allergy found that kiwi resulted in a higher percentage of allergy symptoms in young children than other fruits.

The study isn’t considered complete since researchers have yet to find out what properties in this fruit result in its apparent higher allergen position, but it’s worth keeping in mind for now.

Next time you're making a fruit salad, be sure to include your new furry friend!