Is it true that most of the nutrients in fruits and vegetables are found in the skin? The New York Times recently tackled this question, and if you've been feeling guilty about trimming away carrot peels and apple skins, the answer may surprise you.
While there are certain compounds found only in the skins of fruits and vegetables, such as resveratrol in red grapes, most nutrients found in the skin are also in the flesh. For example, lycopene, a pigment with antioxidant properties, is found throughout tomatoes and red bell peppers, not just in the skin.
According to the United States Department of Agriculture, a large red apple with its skin intact contains about 5 grams of fiber, 13 milligrams of calcium, 239 milligrams of potassium, and 10 milligrams of vitamin C. But remove the skin, and it still contains about 3 grams of fiber, 11 milligrams of calcium, 194 milligrams of potassium, and plenty of its vitamin C and other nutrients.
So if a dislike for skin is standing in the way of you eating certain types of produce, don't feel too guilty about removing it. You'll still be consuming a lot more nutrients than if you skipped those fruits and vegetables entirely.
• Read more: Ask Well: The Nutrients in Fruits and Veggies - The New York Times
Related: 5 Good Uses For Your Apple Peels
(Image: Elena Itsenko/Shutterstock)
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Glad you posted this..I hate the skin on apples, cucumbers, and try to peel of most of the strings before I eat a celery stick. Now I won't feel like i'm missing the 'good' nutrients when i'm peeling an apple to eat.
One fun thing: if you ferment your veggies, you should definitely keep the skins on! That's where all those good l. bacilli probiotic bacteria live and your fermentation won't be the same (or may not work) without the skins!
Most skins of fruits and veggies carry alot of the fiber which is important. But they'll still be super healthy even if you do take off the skin! http://beanafoodie.com/blog
Thanks for the info!
Now please tell us . . . is the crust really the healthiest part of the bread?!?
and if you eat the crust, will it really give you rosy cheeks and curly hair? (did anyone else have a grandmother who claimed that?!)
My problem with apple skins is the wax they coat the apples with makes me sick. Yuck!
So far, I can only eat a raw apple that comes from the orchard or farm share.
I've tried organic, still wax.
Any ideas?
I use white vinegar/lemon juice/water mix in a spray bottle to dissolve anything on the outside of skinned fruits/veggies. You can also use a fruit wash. My best trick? Invest in a bamboo fruit/veggie scrubber: http://bit.ly/13k96eA (also sold at amazon). I also have this mesh bag which cleans carrots and cucumber and apples like a charm, but I don't know what it's called. I got it at our local co-op. hope that helps.
Thanks twotoned!
you can cook the skin to make it delicious instead of throwing it away:-) http://7th-taste.com/2012/06/01/sauted-watermelon-rinds-with-tequila-ancho-chili-olive-oil/
Also comforting is looking at the value of a fruit/vegetable as a whole-low in calories and straight from the ground vs a chemically-filled, processed food.
Rosey cheeks and curly hair! I absolutely heard that one as a kid!
curly hair freaks me out. always has.
Thanks for mentioning the resveratrol. Everybody talks about how it's in red wine, but nobody points out that it's in the unfermented juice--and the fruit--as well.
This really annoys me when there's mixed advice: "If you have a family history of heart problems and cancer, you want to drink red wine and avoid alcohol." .....
Re: Grandmothers and eat your crusts to have curly hair. I hated my Shirley Temple style curly hair and refused to eat crusts as a child. My 2 brothers always scoffed all the fresh baked crusts. It wasn't till I left home that I realised how great those crusts tasted and using plenty of product could make my masses of curls look better.
@PrussianBlueDay, my thoughts exactly! I've always had curly hair and just in the last few years been able to style and enjoy it in any measure. If my grandmother told me that crusts would give me curly hair, I never would've touched them (and I wasn't an anti-crust kid!).
We have to peel the skins off green things like cucumbers and green apples since they contain a lot of vitamin K, which my husband needs to avoid because of blood-thinning medication.