Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Paleo Basics: How Much Sugar in Wild Fruits?

I frequently see the claim that wild fruits have less sugar than cultivated varieties.  It must sound reasonable to those who state it, but what does the evidence show?

In "Australian Aboriginal plant foods: a consideration of their nutritional composition and health implications" Brand-Miller and Holt discuss the carbohydrate contents of wild fruits consumed by Australian Aborigines and report:
"The average nutrient analysis of all the dried AA [Australian Aborigine] fruits in Table 1 (n = 7) shows that they are high in carbohydrate (59 %, v. 65 % in cultivated sultanas and raisins), and contain moderate amounts of protein (8 %) and fat (4 %) depending on the state of desiccation."

They also report:
"The average nutrient composition of all the fruit samples analysed (n = 334) is shown in Table 1 (macronutrients) and Table 2 (micronutrients). On first inspection they appear to be a little higher in protein (2 v. 1 %) and fat (1 v. 0 %) compared with the average of 17 types of cultivated western fruits. These small differences could be explained in large part by the lower water content of the wild foods (72 v. 85 % in cultivated foods). 
"Native fruits also appear to be twice as high in both carbohydrate (21 v. 9 %) and fibre (8 v. 3 %). However, because the methods used are not ideal (see above), the carbohydrate is probably an overestimate and the fibre an underestimate."

So analyses show that wild fruits have, in the first comparison, about the same sugar content as cultivated varieties, and in the second comparison, at least as much sugar, probably more, and up to twice as much, as cultivated.  Neither analysis showed them to have significantly less carbohydrate.

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