Is DRIED FRUIT good for you????

[drosophila]

I know that it contributes to your 5 a day but DD only eats dried fruit.

She loves dried mango, figs and raisins. She would eat them until the cos come home. I am sure that I read that the fruit sugar concentrates when it is dried. Is that a bad thing? In the absence of fresh fruit is it a good substitute?

She is 20mths.

Blimey drisophila with a name like that I'd have thought you'd be answering other people's questions about fruit

I think you can count it as one of your 5 a day. But it isn't as healthy as fresh because of the reason you mention - the ratio of sugar to fruit becomes very high.

They are great for minerals, etc, but they are quite sugary.

gram for gram it is more sugary that fresh because there's less water in it - just make sure teeth are well brushed and keep offering fresh in the hopes that one day she'll come round to it.
How is she with veg / pulses / juice / all the other 5-a-day things?

It is good in moderation, dried apricots are better for you than fresh in terms of iron content for example but the high sugar concentration can be very damaging to teeth so beware!

where do you buy you're dried mango from?? The only stuff I can find (reasonably priced) is that's sugary crystalised stuff [frown]

I was once told that chocolate is kinder to teeth than dried fruit as it is washed off more easily by saliva. All things in moderation as usual.

Soft Dried mango from M&S is what she prefers. It's consistency is not far from fresh but she turns her head in disgust at the fresh. Thing is the dried stuff is tangy in taste so I can't understand why she prefers it.

Brushing teeth is another issue. She insists on doing it herself which is really her chewing the tooth brush. Veg used to be OK but now I have to hide them. Apparently in Nursery she eats all veg and fresh fruit.Why?

What out for hydrogenated veg oil that is added to some dried fruit I've seen it in dates and figs definatley not healthy

dros - how much does that M&S mango cost??

Too much £2.59. You get quite a lot.

actually if that's the proper dried mango (like this } that's actually a pretty good price.

Well it's 'Soft' dried mango. I would prefer the really dry one like Waitrose do but DD prefers the soft as it's easier to chew.

FOund this here . Like somone said everything in moderation but I am pleased to see it retains the vitamins. I didn't think it would.

T think that dried fruit only counts as 1 of your 5 a day, no matter how much you eat.

omg - you mean waitrose sell the proper really chewy stuff...........ooooo I'm getting all excited just thinking about it

Dried fruit does count as one of the 5 a day, but because of the sugar content it will only count as one no matter how many portions are eaten. I am quite wary or dried fruit as a whole because most seem to contain preservatives & oils so pick & choose those like sunmaiden that dont contain them.

My local Budgens also sells the chewy stuff.

But as long as it's not added sugar (which some do have) how does it differ from fresh.

Asda have packs of dried figs reduced from 28p to 14p. They are 50g and contain about 5 figs. And just read the back of the packet on my desk - they are 100% figs.

It contains more sugar per gramme because less of the fruit is water. So 1 dried apricots contains the same amount of sugar as 1 fresh apricot but it's smaller and lighter so it's not as filling - so you could eat a handful of dried apricots whereas you might only eat 1 or 2 fresh ones. I suppose that's why there is more sugar in dried ones???

I find it hard to beleive that dried fruit contains the same number of nutrients - I thought that fresh fruit lost a lot of it's nutrients if you allow it to get old and a bit wrinkly.

Dried apricots give me and dd the most terrible wind!

Yes but if you only had 1 dried apricot and didn't eat loads isn't that the same nutritionally as 1 fresh apricot (assuming the link I posted is correct). Personally I can't eat that much dried fruit as I find it filling. Water in fresh fruit doesn't add to it's filling quality does it?

\link{http://www.eatwell.gov.uk/asksam/healthydiet/fruitandvegq/#A218504\info)

You will notice for juice it says that it counts only for 1 portion but it doesn't say that about dried fruit. In fact all that is missing is Vit C which you can get from juice.

AGain

From the DOH info: "One portion of dried fruit counts (1 portion = for example 3 dried apricots, or 1 tablespoon of raisins), but other types of fruit and vegetables should be eaten to meet the rest of the 5 A DAY target."
from this link