Kiwifruit, also known as kiwi or Chinese gooseberry, is a healthy fruit that tastes sweet and sour.
They’re about the size of an egg, and their skin is brown and fuzzy. The interior is bright green or yellow, with small black seeds and a soft white center.
Despite the kiwi’s popularity, some individuals advocate against eating its skin. You can eat the skin, but some people find the fuzzy texture off-putting.
It tells you the good and bad things about eating the skin, so you can choose if you want to try it or not.
The skin is very good for you.
There are a lot of nutrients in kiwi skins, mostly fiber, calcium, and vitamin E.
- Fiber: Fiber is an important nutrient that feeds the beneficial bugs in your gut. People who eat a lot of fiber are less likely to get heart disease, cancer, and diabetes.
- Folate: Folate is an important nutrient for cell division and growth, and it can help prevent neural tube defects during pregnancy.
- Vitamin E: This vitamin dissolves in fat and is a strong antioxidant. Free radicals can damage cells, but this helps keep them healthy.
Instead of just eating the flesh, eating a kiwi’s skin can improve its fiber content by 50%, folate content by 32%, and vitamin E content by 34%.
Many people don’t get enough of these nutrients from their food, so eating kiwis with the skin on is easy.
Most of the Antioxidants
Kiwi skin contains a lot of vitamins. It is actually true that the skin of the fruit has more antioxidants than the meat.
The skin contains large amounts of three important antioxidants: vitamin C, vitamin E, and vitamin A.
Due to its ability to dissolve in water, vitamin C can protect your cells and arteries from oxidative damage.
Vitamin E, on the other hand, dissolves in fat and fights free radicals primarily inside cell membranes.
The skins of kiwis are full of antioxidants that dissolve in both water and fat, so they protect your whole body very well.
Some people, can be unpleasant to eat kiwi skin.
The skin of a kiwifruit is very healthy, but some people don’t like eating it.
People frequently discard the skin because it feels fuzzy and strange in the mouth.
You can get rid of some of the fuzz, though, by rubbing the fruit with a clean towel, scrubbing it with a vegetable brush, or lightly scraping it with a spoon.
You can use a paring knife to cut off the skin, or you can cut off one end of the kiwi and use a spoon to scoop out the meat.
Some people may also find that kiwis hurt their mouths.
There are naturally occurring calcium oxalate crystals in your mouth that can scratch the soft skin. These are called raphides. When these tiny scratches meet with the acid in the fruit, they can make it feel like it’s stinging.
Because the skin contains a lot of oxalates, peeling the fruit can help lessen this effect. The flesh, however, also contains raphides.
Kiwi fruits that are ripe tend to be less irritating to the mouth than those that aren’t yet ripe. Since soft meat traps some raphides, it reduces their effects.
There are some people who shouldn’t eat kiwis. Kiwis are tasty for most people, but those who are allergic to them or who frequently get kidney stones may want to stay away from them.
Who should not eat kiwi fruit?
Allergies to Kiwis
Many people have been diagnosed with a kiwi allergy, which can cause symptoms ranging from a slightly itchy mouth to full-blown anaphylaxis. People who are very allergic should stay away from these fruits.
People with mild symptoms might have rubber food allergy syndrome or oral allergy syndrome.
When the immune system reacts to proteins that resemble birch pollen or latex, such as those found in kiwis, it can cause oral allergies and latex food allergies.
This can lead to unpleasant symptoms such as mouth itching or burning, numb or swollen lips, a scratchy throat, and a stuffy nose or sinuses.
Some people with these syndromes can eat cooked or canned kiwi because heat changes the protein shape and reduces the number of cross-reactivity responses.
Stones in the kidneys
For the same reason, people who have had calcium oxalate kidney stones in the past might not want to eat the kiwi skin, which has more oxalates than the meat inside.
Some people are more likely to get painful kidney stones because oxalates can join with calcium in the body.
The American Urological Association recommends lowering oxalate intake to treat kidney stones, despite the fact that not all studies have found it to be helpful.
Kiwis Are Good for You
Eating kiwi fruit is beneficial for you in many ways, whether you choose to eat the skin or not. Here are some of them:
- Improved cholesterol levels: Higher amounts of heart-healthy HDL cholesterol, more antioxidants in the blood, and a less dangerous breakdown of LDL cholesterol are all benefits of eating two kiwis every day for eight weeks.
- Lower blood pressure: Eat three kiwis every day to lower your blood pressure. Some studies have shown that this can lower blood pressure by an average of 10 points in 8 weeks.
- Better iron absorption: When you eat kiwifruit along with iron-rich foods, your body can absorb more iron, which can help fix iron shortages.
- Immunity boost: Kiwis may help relieve stuffy noses and sore throats due to their stronger immune system.
- Improved digestion: Actinidin, an enzyme present in kiwis, may speed up your body’s breakdown of proteins in food.
- Reduced constipation: Kiwifruit’s fiber can help ease constipation and make bowel movements easier.
These tests used kiwi flesh, but it seems likely that eating the fruit with the skin would have the same health benefits.
Tips for Selecting, Preparing and Storing
Kiwis are a hardy fruit that will last a long time if you choose, cook, and keep them correctly.
Selecting
Choose smaller kiwis if you want to eat the skin. The skin on smaller kiwis is usually more soft than the skin on larger ones.
Typically, the US market sells green kiwis, but yellow kiwifruit is a recent addition. Their skin is smooth, and they have sweet yellow meat.
Kiwi grapes can also be eaten whole. These are small fruits with smooth skin.
Look for fruit with smooth, spot-free skin that slightly gives when pressed. Kiwi fruit is either too firm or too soft. If it feels very hard, it’s not ripe enough.
When possible, opt for organic kiwis as they may contain more vitamins than kiwis grown in other methods.
Preparing
Before you eat the kiwi, wash the outside to get rid of any dirt, germs, or chemicals.
Putting the fruit in a bowl with baking soda and water for 15 minutes might help get rid of more of the gunk than just running water over it.
Despite the misconception that kiwis don’t retain a lot of pesticides, washing them is still a good idea because they might have picked up additional contaminants during processing, packing, or shipping.
Storing
We typically harvest them before they reach ripeness, and they continue to ripen during storage.
When kiwis are ready to eat, they should ripen at room temperature and then place them in the fridge because the ripening process slows down in colder temperatures.
The bottom line
Most people find that kiwis are a tasty and healthy fruit choice.
Although the skin is full of fiber, folate, and vitamins, some people don’t like the way it feels.
There are many kinds of kiwis, some with soft, smooth skin, so you can try different ones until you find the one you like best.
To avoid worsening kidney stones, kiwi allergies, or sensitive teeth, do not eat the fruit or its skin.
Kiwis are beneficial for your health in many ways, like boosting your immune system, lowering your risk of heart disease, and making your digestive system work better, so you might want to add them to your diet.
