Lychee (Litchi chinensis) is a wonderful sweet fruit. The delicious
plus sweet taste is suitable to make juice, ice cream and desserts. The fruit
was originated from South China but today, it can be found in most countries but
the price is quite expensive. Nowadays, there are many lychee products that had
formed into cordial. It is too much sugar and causes lychee to less nutritious.
It is better to get lychee fruit and make your own juice.
It is estimated that 5 whole lychee
contain 60± kcal. This fruit is famous with high rich of vitamin C. The dietary
reference intake (DRI) values for vitamin C are 90 mg for adult males and 75 mg
for adult female. In a study on mineral content of lychee, it is ranged from
21-36 mg of vitamin C in every 100 g. The consumption of 14-17 lychee fruit
would meet the DRI for adults. However, there are few factors affecting the production
of vitamin C in lychee; the longer day length and the higher light intensities
can increase the concentration of vitamin C. Besides, excessive nitrogen and
phosphorus in soil decrease the vitamin C content in lychee. So, the vitamin C
content might be different with places.
For every 100 g of lychee also could
meet 2-4% of the DRI for Phosphorus, Potassium, Magnesium, Iron, Zinc and
Manganese, and 22% of the DRI for Copper. In a study Takuya Sakurai and colleagues,
2008, lychee contains high oligonol which is very super active to act as
antioxidant and prevent the occurrence of metabolic syndrome among obesity through
oxidative effects. However, it is not effective if the person already has
diabetes. This is because the sugar content in lychee is quite high. The
dietitian may limit the lychee intake to 2 servings per day for maximum (depend
on the conditions) with 5 whole for each serving.
References:
Sakurai, T., Nishioka, H., Fujii, H., Nakano, N., Kizaki, T.,
Radak, Z., Ohno, H. (2008). Antioxidative effects of a new lychee fruit-derived
polyphenol mixture, oligonol, converted into a low-molecular form in
adipocytes. Bioscience, Biotechnology, and Biochemistry, 72(2),
463–476. doi:10.1271/bbb.70567
Wall, M. M. (2006). Ascorbic acid and mineral composition of
longan (Dimocarpus longan), lychee (Litchi chinensis) and rambutan (Nephelium
lappaceum) cultivars grown in Hawaii. Journal of Food Composition and
Analysis, 19(6-7), 655–663. doi:10.1016/j.jfca.2005.12.001
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