Gastroenterologists explained the benefits and risks of feijoa consumption
Feijoa contains fiber, vitamin C, potassium and polyphenols, but its benefits are often exaggerated, especially with regard to iodine, and harvesting with sugar significantly reduces the nutritional value of the berry. The restrictions primarily apply to people with gastrointestinal diseases. Tatiana Nechitailo, a gastroenterologist at the Scandinavian Health Center, and Ekaterina Kornilova, head of the Department of gastroenterology, a doctor of the highest category, gastroenterologist at Olympus Clinics MARS, told Izvestia about this on October 14.
What are the benefits of feijoa
Feijoa is a good seasonal fruit. It is rich in fiber, contains vitamin C, potassium and plant antioxidants, and polyphenols, including tannins, give the berry a tart taste. Fiber is the main thing that feijoa gives to digestion: it serves as food for beneficial intestinal bacteria, helps regular stools and makes the fruit satisfying.
"Feijoa can indeed contain iodine, but its concentration strongly depends on the region of cultivation, soil composition and cultivation conditions. Therefore, it is wrong to consider any feijoa as a guaranteed rich source of iodine," Kornilova noted.
Iodine is necessary for the synthesis of thyroid hormones that regulate metabolism, growth and development of the body, but feijoa consumption alone does not prevent thyroid disease and does not replace iodized salt or medications prescribed by a doctor.
Iron and magnesium are also present in the berry, but in relatively small amounts, so it should not be considered as a means of preventing anemia or correcting magnesium deficiency. When losing weight, feijoa is suitable: the energy value of fresh berries is about 55-60 kcal per 100 g, and due to dietary fiber, it can be a good alternative to sweet desserts.
Who should limit or exclude feijoa
Usually it is enough to limit feijoa, it is rarely completely removed from the diet. In case of peptic ulcer in an exacerbation, the patient needs to eat fractionally, in small portions, without sour, spicy and coarse dishes, and a fresh berry with a peel does not fit into such a diet — they return to it after the exacerbation has passed.
With gastritis with high acidity and reflux, everything depends on the reaction of the person himself: if sour fruits cause heartburn or pain in the upper abdomen, it is better to eat feijoa after eating, without the peel and no more than one at a time. With pancreatitis, the attending physician selects the diet for the time of exacerbation, and fresh fruits should not be added without his permission, and when the disease has subsided, the berry can be eaten if it does not increase pain and does not cause bloating.
"There is no reason to believe that in normal portions these substances harm a healthy gastric mucosa. The issue is more about portability. When the mucous membrane is inflamed and the disease has worsened, tart and sour foods are more likely to cause burning, heaviness or pain," Nechitailo explained.
In irritable bowel syndrome, feijoa contains a lot of fructose, and it is more fructose than glucose, and this composition often causes bloating and pain in people with IBS, even from one fruit. If a person follows a diet with a limited FODMAP, the berry is excluded at its strict stage, and then the tolerance is checked with a small portion.
Kornilova adds that there are few strict contraindications, primarily an individual allergic reaction. In hyperthyroidism, feijoa is not automatically prohibited, but patients with thyroid diseases who need to limit iodine intake should consider its possible content in the diet. With diabetes and obesity, it is also not necessary to give up fresh berries, it is important to control the portion size and take carbohydrates into account in the overall diet — 100-150 g of fresh berries can be a reasonable guideline.
Why does feijoa cause bloating?
Bloating and discomfort from feijoa can occur for two reasons. The first is fiber: by fruit standards, there is a lot of it in a berry, and if a person usually eats little plant food, and in season switches to several berries a day, the intestines respond with gases. The second reason is an excess of fructose: some of it does not have time to be absorbed in the small intestine, reaches the colon and ferments there under the influence of bacteria, hence bloating, rumbling.
Therefore, it makes sense to start with one fruit and look at the reaction, and it is better to stretch the portion for a day, for example, one fruit in the afternoon and one in the evening, than to eat everything at once. For those who are prone to bloating, it is more convenient to cut off the peel: there are more dense fibers in it. At the same time, the peel is edible, and it contains a lot of polyphenols, so a healthy person can eat the whole fruit if it is washed well.
For people with gastritis, reflux, IBS, or just sensitive intestines, it's easier to cut the fruit in half and eat the pulp with a spoon. There is no separate norm for feijoa: for an adult without gastrointestinal problems, according to Nechitailo, two or three fruits a day along with other fruits and vegetables are enough, and for people with sensitive intestines it is better to start with one.
Is there still a benefit in feijoa mashed with sugar
Some of the benefits are preserved in the sugar-ground feijoa. Berries are not boiled for this preparation, so the fresh mixture contains more vitamin C than classic jam, and fiber also remains, because the fruit is ground whole along with the peel. However, vitamin C is gradually destroyed by contact with air, and even faster in heat, and after several weeks and months of storage in the refrigerator, it becomes less in a jar.
"The main disadvantage of the billet is its sweetness. The classic recipe requires as much sugar as berries, so a couple of spoonfuls of the mixture already gives a significant portion of the amount of sugar allowed per day," Nechitailo emphasized.
Kornilova notes that at a one—to-one ratio, 100 g of ground feijoa with sugar contains about 54 g of sugars, and the energy value reaches about 230 kcal - almost four times more than that of fresh berries. Excess added sugar increases the calorie content of the diet and can make it difficult to control body weight and glucose levels.
Vitamins and dietary fiber do not completely disappear, but they do not compensate for the large amount of sugar. People with diabetes and overweight, as well as those who eat such a preparation every day, should treat it as a dessert. The best option is fresh feijoa added to yogurt, cottage cheese or porridge. If you want mashed potatoes, you can do without sugar and store them for a short time or freeze them in portions.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
