Kiwi Fruit

[Inuyasha]

Does eating the skin of a kiwi have any health benifits?

[ERS]

Lachance, P, Sloan, AE. Fruits in preventative health and disease treatment: nutritional ranking and patient recommendations. Abstract published in the Am J Clin Nutr 1997;16.

This and other sources said that kiwi fruit skin is high in phenolic compounds, such as flavanoids, which have antioxidant properties... good stuff for your own skin! Flavanoids, as in kiwi skin, have potential anticancer, antiinflammatory and antiallergenic properties. This is interesting in light of the growing body of literature citing allergies to kiwi fruit itself--they make no mention of the skin portion of the fruit, not sure why.

At any rate, on top of all this great stuff, kiwi skin also is known, as are many fruits, for being a source of insoluble fiber, which is great for your digestive tract.
hope this helps,
ERS

[Inuyasha]

Thanks a ton.

[Inuyasha]

Kiwis are actually highly valuable sources of nutritions. The inhabitants of Kiwi growing coutnries used to eat kiwi skins for folic acid.

[Solid Snake]

are there any other benefits in other fruit skins? I mean ones that most people dont usually eat like oranges, bananas, etc.

[Inuyasha]

Most fruit skins are really not nutrious at all. Plus they taste bad. This maybe the reason that no one eats them. If they were nutriutous more people would eat them. Think about it.

[Cyranian]

I've a friend who's Chinese, and I've been told that boiling the skin of oranges in a pot of water, and then drinking the "potion" (?) afterwards would help cure flus and the common cold. I've tried it a couple of times, and it actually helps a lot. So I'd think that other fruit skins when treated properly would be healthy as well.

[Inuyasha]

That sounds really disgusting. I really don't think that the skin of an orange has any nutrisiou value at all. ehhh.

[biostudent84]

Bugs are an excellent source of nutrients for us as well. Just because it sounds disgusting doesn't mean it's nutritious...

[Cyranian]

Thanks for backing me up, biostudent. The "juice" from boiling orange skin actually tastes alright, that is, if you've tried Chinese herbal medicine before. Besides, it was the first time I had that kind of things before, and it's really not that bad. And yeah, they have raw scorpions in China, roasted grubs in Australia, stir-fried dragon flies in Indonesia, and so on and so on. They're nutritious delicacies in other cultures.

[biostudent84]

Hee hee, the Chinese Herbal Medicine is part of an interesting topic.

Western Medicine is mostly a chemical/physical practise of either surgery or medicine.

Eastern Medicine is mostly a practise of meditation and "mind-over-matter" healing.

Surprisingly, the success rates overall for these two different approaches to medicine remain about the same.

[Cyranian]

Bugs are an excellent source of nutrients for us as well. Just because it sounds disgusting doesn't mean it's nutritious...

Didn't notice it before, but did you mean "...Just because it sounds disgusting doesn't mean it's not nutritious...", haha. Alright, getting really late around here. Good night.