Posted by kathryn in Fruit and Q & A Thursday

Next on Q & A Month Sophia asks a question about sultanas:

I have an active little boy, nearly 2yrs old. I am trying to avoid too much sugar and processed food in his diet, so for snacks I give him a mix of sultanas, dried apricots and dried banana chips, as well as rice cakes. He especially loves sultanas . . . Is there such a thing as too many sultanas? . . . I give him fresh apples, but as I am trying to buy local produce, that is currently the only fresh fruit I buy.

Is dried fruit good for you?

Dried fruit is handy and full of nutrients. Most dried fruit contains fibre, as well as some vitamins and minerals:

• Prunes and dried apricots contain carotenoid antioxidants
• Figs, prunes, apricots, sultanas and raisins contain iron
• All dried fruit contains magnesium and potassium
• Some contain small doses of calcium

Dried fruit can count towards your daily recommended two pieces of fruit.

Can you eat too much dried fruit?

However . . .

All fruit contains sugars.

While it’s much better to eat fruit than lollies and biscuits, it’s still wise to be careful how much you eat.

This applies to fruit in general, but particularly to dried fruit. The dried variety is more concentrated and it’s easier to eat larger quantities. Large amounts of dried fruit equates to large amounts of sugar.

Dried fruit is sweet, which is part of the reason why kids love it. But it’s a good idea to encourage and develop more savoury tastes in your children, making the strongly sweet tastes more occasional foods.

Moreover, if you’re eating lots of dried fruit, you’re doing this at the expense of other foods. And other foods provide other nutrients.

• While dried fruit is full of fibre and some minerals, it’s lower in vitamin C than fresh. Vitamin C is a sensitive, fragile nutrient and some of it is destroyed in the drying process.
• Dried fruit doesn’t contain any protein
• Dried fruit doesn’t contain any fats
• It’s low in B vitamins

Eating a wider variety of snacks

Eating a wide variety of foods ensures a wide variety of nutrients. Snacks are an important part of both children and adults’ diet and it’s better to vary the snacks around a bit. For example:

• have a small amount of dried fruit, with some fresh apple and yoghurt
• cut up vegetables and serve with baba ghanoush or salsa
• spread a slice of wholegrain toast with avocado or hummous and tomato
• have a small bowl of home-made soup
• corn cakes with tinned tuna and cucumber

How much dried fruit should you eat?

• For most children I would recommend limiting dried fruit to one serving a day. For a two year old, that would be about half a tablespoon.
• Supplement this with another piece of fresh fruit, even if it is only apples.
• Try out a variety of different snacks.
• If there is limited fruit available, also include some of the vitamin C containing vegetables like tomatoes, broccoli, spinach, fresh herbs, red capsicum and rocket. Eat these raw, or very lightly cooked.

What is Q & A Month?

This post is part of Q & A Month. For those of you new to Limes & Lycopene, I usually run a fortnightly question and answer forum, called Q & A Thursday. But for the next four weeks, it’s Q & A Month. If you have a question, or there’s a topic you’d like me to cover, leave a comment below or send me an email. For more information you can take a look at the Q & A Thursday archives.

28 January, 2008