posted Thu, 11/29/2012 - 19:17
694
Fruits?
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So this probably could have gone in the nutrition section but anything goes so i ask you guys this! Do un-ripenned fruits have less nutritional value than fully ripe or over ripe fruits? i should know this since im a nutrition major but hasnt ever come up in all my years studying it. I do like me some rock hard pears and grapefruit and i like none ripenned bananas because im mildy allergic to them and if ripe they make my tongue burn and slightly swell up. thouhts comments?
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alright thanks, dont have my nutrition license yet but im getting there. in the classes ive taken we have only discussed diet and how everything reacts once inside the body, then a ton of AnP classes. much appreciated, just a random question i had
Anonno worries bro
Anonas a nutrition major, you should absolutely know this. i learned this in science of nutrition 101 and was revisited in science of nutrition 102. nevertheless..
fruits and vegetables gain nutrients through the water, soils, and sun light. in the old days, these two items would not be harvested until they had ripened. this gave them optimum time exposed to the elements of the earth, which in turn optimized the nutrient composition of them. in today's marketplace, items must be harvested, packaged, shipped to distributors, stored, and retailed. because of the time lapse here, they must be picked prematurely to avoid rotting between the field and the end consumer.
they will continue to ripen after being picked, however, the nutrient content does not increase any further.
the carbohydrate chains comprising fruits will start out as long chain molecules of starch. as these fruits ripen, those sugar chains will be broken down into more simple forms thereby increasing the fructose content (simple sugars). this is why fruits get sweeter as they ripen.
vegetables on the other hand start out as simple sugar molecules and are bound together during the ripening process to form longer carbohydrate chains of starchs.
I do know that the more ripe the fruit the higher the sugar content. The higher the sugar content the more fermentation that coverts to alcohol. Thus more empty calories then less ripe fruit.