Encouraging people to eat more dried fruit - without added sugar - could be an effective way to increase their intake of vital nutrients, researchers have concluded.
Low fruit consumption in the United States and other countries is a major contributor to diet-related disease and disability, according to a recent analysis.
Fruits are a good source of nutrients, such as fiber and potassium, that many people lack in their diets. It also contains nutrients bioactive that provide additional health benefits, including polyphenols and carotenoids.
Research suggests that eating fruit is associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer and type 2 diabetes.
However, only about 24% of women and 14% of men in the US eat the recommended daily amount of fruit, according to National Cancer Institute.
Several factors may contribute to low human intake of fresh fruit, including limited availability, high cost, and spoilage.
Recommending that people eat more dried fruit may be one solution.
Healthy snack?
Dried fruits offer several advantages over fresh fruits in terms of cost, availability, and ease of storage and transportation. It can also replace the unhealthiest foods that are high in sugar, salt and saturated fat.
At the same time, however, there are concerns about overconsumption leading to excess calorie intake because dried fruit is such an "energy-dense" form of fruit.
Previous observational studies have found that eating dried fruit is associated with health benefits. However, the evidence is inconclusive because people who eat more dried fruit may tend to have a healthier diet and lifestyle overall.
The new study by researchers at Pennsylvania State University (Penn) in University Park aimed to overcome this difficulty by comparing days when individual participants reported eating dried fruit with days when they did not eat any.
They found that people tended to consume more key nutrients when they ate dried fruit, including dietary fiber and potassium. However, they also consumed more calories.
"Nuts can be a great choice for a nutritious snack, but consumers may want to be sure they're choosing unsweetened versions with no added sugar," says Valerie Sullivan of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, MD, which was a. graduate student at Penn State when she led the study.
“Portion size can also be tricky because a portion of dried fruit is smaller than a portion of fresh once the water has been removed. But the upside is that dried fruit can help people potentially consume more fruit because it's portable, shelf-stable and can even be cheaper."
Health and Nutrition Survey
For their analysis, the scientists drew on survey responses from 25,590 individuals who participated in the 2007–2016 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) Trusted Source.
Respondents provided information about the food they had consumed in the past 24 hours (called "dietary recalls").
Dried fruits accounted for only 3.7% of all fruits consumed. However, a total of 1,233 participants reported consuming dried fruit on one of the two dietary recalls, allowing the scientists to compare their intake on these days.
Data on the participants' health was also available, including their body mass index (BMI), waist circumference and resting blood pressure.
Even after adjusting for demographic and lifestyle factors, participants who ate significant amounts of nuts tended to have better diets, a lower BMI, a smaller waist circumference, and lower systolic blood pressure. compared to those who did not eat.
When the researchers compared the days when a participant ate dried fruit with those when they did not, they found that the average intake of total carbohydrates, dietary fiber, potassium and unsaturated fat was greater on the days when they ate dried fruit.
An active lifestyle
Taken together, the findings suggest that people who ate dried fruit expended more energy, compensating for the extra calories.
"In our study, people who consumed dried fruit had a higher caloric intake but a lower BMI and waist circumference, suggesting they were more physically active," says co-author Penny Kris-Etherton, professor of in Nutritional Sciences at Evan Pugh University at Penn. State.
"So when including dried fruit, pay attention to the calories and make sure to substitute calories from low-nutrition foods for the dried fruit to get the most out of eating dried fruit," she adds.
The researchers write that eating dried fruit tends to increase total fruit consumption, rather than replacing other forms of fruit. "Thus, increasing consumption of dried fruit may help Americans achieve greater fruit consumption."
The authors acknowledge that their study did not prove that eating dried fruit improves health, only that there appears to be a connection. People who are likely to eat dried fruit may have better health for other reasons, such as getting more exercise or leading less stressful lives.
In addition, they note that the survey relied on participants' memories of what they had eaten over the past 24 hours and their ability to accurately estimate amounts.
