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Brown bananas taste sweeter than yellow ones. But do ripe fruits also have more calories?
It’s true of all fruits, but it’s especially noticeable with bananas: the riper they get, the sweeter they taste. You can take particular advantage of this when baking banana bread: completely brown bananas make any added sugar superfluous. But do ripe fruits therefore also have more calories?
First of all, it’s important to note that when it comes to fruit, there’s no need to worry about calories as part of a healthy, figure-conscious diet. It is true that it contains (fruit) sugar. But it also contains valuable vitamins and fiber, which make fruits such as apples, bananas and the like valuable foods. But what is noticeable is that fruit also tastes increasingly sweeter as it ripens. What is behind this? And is this accompanied by a change in nutrient content? Do ripe fruits have more calories because they are sweeter? The answer is yes and no.
The riper the fruit, the higher the sugar content
The sweeter taste of ripe fruit is no coincidence. As nutritionist Uwe Knop confirms in an interview with FITBOOK.de, ripe bananas, for example, actually contain more sugar than the less ripe fruits. The explanation: “Short-chain sugars, which taste sweeter, are formed from the long-chain carbohydrates they contain during ripening.”
But don’t worry. Even though sugar is usually synonymous with high calorie content, that doesn’t mean that ripe fruits also have more calories. After all, “Where would they come from? The fruit always has as many calories as it has,” Knop assures.
Effect of the degree of ripeness on metabolism
So the answer to the question of whether ripe fruit has more calories is: more sugar: yes; more calories: no. Nevertheless, the “internal carbohydrate predigestion” that has taken place in ripe fruit, in Uwe Knop’s words, could have a minor effect on metabolism. With ripe fruit, the body has less work to do in utilizing nutrients. The favorable consequence is that energy is available to the body more quickly, Knop knows.
Not yet completely so ripe fruits demand the gastro-intestinal tract there already somewhat more, since the body must decompose the coal hydrates. On the other hand, the energy supplied lasts a little longer.
More nutrients through ripening of fruits?
By the way, as the fruit ripens, the calorie content changes just as little as the nutrient content. To stay with the banana example: “Neither the potassium nor the magnesium content changes during the transition from green to yellow to brown,” says medical journalist and dietician Sven-David Müller.
— source: fitbook.de/picture: pixabay.com
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