Looking for something a bit different to bring home from your next supermarket shop? Then why not the humble raspberry? They’re a great little fruit that are easy to eat in a number of ways and can be great with a desert or on your cereal, and they also have a vast number of health benefits. Here we will look at what some of those are and make the case for this firebox red little fruit…
• Raspberries are low in calories and fat with 100g giving you only 52 calories. At the same time though they taste very sweet and they’re small and easy to snack on meaning that they make a great pick-me-up to enjoy while you’re working or a great way to add a little more flavour to a fruit salad or some cereal. The perfect alternative then to Smarties or other chocolate snacks…
• Raspberries are a great source of fibre and for every 100 grams you’ll 6.5 grams of fibre – 16% of your RDA. This helps to lower blood pressure, protect your heart and encourage healthy bowl movements.
• Raspberries are high in a range of antioxidants from quercetin to gallic acid. This means they can help to remove free radicals making them great for preventing the deterioration of cells and ultimately cancer. All these antioxidants give raspberry an ‘ORAC’ value (oxygen radical absorbance capacity) of around 4,900 per 100 grams which makes it one of the very best fruits for combating free radicals.
• Another antioxidant in raspberries is vitamin C, which is also fantastic for strengthening your immune system and defending your body against colds and other problems. You’ll get 47% of your RDA from just 100 grams.
• They’re also high in vitamins A, B, E and K making them great for your eye health (vitamin A helps to prevent cataracts and macular degeneration) as well as skin and cholesterol (thanks to vitamin E), energy (B complex) and bone strength (K).
• If that wasn’t enough, raspberries will also give you plenty of vitamins including potassium, iron, magnesium and manganese. Potassium is useful for preventing cramps as well as controlling the heart rate.
With raspberries then you have an incredibly practical and versatile fruit that you can snack on throughout the day without getting a gut while at the same time protecting yourself from cancer-causing free radicals.