Grapes are mostly made up of about 80% water. But despite this,
we cannot simply ignore the nutritional value of grapes. By just eating a
cup of grapes that would be amounting to a 100g would give you one of
the five servings of fruits and vegetables that are being recommended
for a person to eat daily. Aside from water and regardless of its skin
color, it contains a lot of other important nutrients that our body
needs.
Each serving of grapes contains about 200 milligrams of
potassium and 25% of the daily dietary value for Vitamin C that we need
to take in a day. Potassium is very important in keeping the heart
healthy and functioning well while Vitamin C boosts up our defenses
against illnesses. Aside from that, it can also give you 9 milligrams of
phosphorous which is a basic part of nucleic acids that are the basic
building blocks of DNA. Every serving also has 4.6 milligrams of
magnesium that is important for muscle contractions. There are also
trace amounts of minerals like iron, zinc and selenium. Surely there are
a lot of grapes nutritional value just on its vitamins and minerals.
There's still a lot more.
Each serving of grapes also contains
about 92 international units (IU) of vitamin A which is vital to our
eyesight, 0.19 milligrams of vitamin E for our skin and flushing out
free radicals and 14.6 micrograms of vitamin K which helps in normal
blood clotting.
Most dieticians have been prescribing its patients
to avoid eating fruits because they contain a lot of carbohydrates.
Good thing is that grapes are not like that. Every serving of grapes
contains only about 69 calories compared to 58 calories of an apple with
the same size. In addition to that, grapes are not that fatty. It only
contains little amounts of fats which can hardly affect your diet. Just
like any other fruits, it is also rich in fiber that would help clean
out the toxins in our body. It is even cholesterol free so you don't
have to be worried about your cholesterol levels.
Some nutritional
value of grapes can also be found in their dried forms which are the
raisins. Raisins have been known to contain high concentration of boron.
Boron is deemed important like calcium in maintaining healthy bones.
Some studies have even showed that it can help delay bone loss in women
after menopause.
Grapes have been also known to contain a lot of
antioxidants like resveratrol which is found in wines. It had been
linked to preventing cancer, heart disease, degenerative nerve diseases
and even Alzheimer's disease before they worsen. It had been also found
out certain chemicals in red grapes can also open and relax blood
vessels which are helpful most especially to those who are suffering
from hypertension.
But all of the nutritional value of grapes can
only be present if they had been properly cultivated. Their vineyards
should be receiving lots of sunshine and are well irrigated. If not,
then maybe some nutrients would be lost so it is very important that
from the start, these grapes had been tended well so that we would be
able to benefit greatly from it.By
Kim Drew