Pink grapefruit is the princess of winter fruits. It's sweet & pink, which makes it a perfect treat for the month of love.
Like all citrus fruits, grapefruit is high in vitamin C.
1/2 cup of grapefruit = 42mg vitamin C (1).
Toddlers age 1-3 need 15 mg per day (2).
1/2 cup grapefruit = 500% of what a toddler needs!
Vitamin C is important for:
healthy skin
a robust immune system
chronic disease prevention
Vitamin C, also known as ascorbic acid, is a powerful antioxidant. Antioxidants get rid of bad chemicals (oxidants) that float around in your blood and cells (3).
Vitamin C and other nutrients like furanocoumarins and lycopene in grapefruit are also thought to prevent cancer and other chronic diseases like heart disease and diabetes (4).
Simply put: Grapefruit is good for you, eat it while it is in season!!!
What's more important to me is that Grapefruit tastes good and looks pretty!
My second grader loooooves grapefruit. He eats one in his lunch almost every day from December through March, and often has one for an after school snack too.
I section grapefruit with a knife for him because the membrane between the juicy pulp is very tough and fibrous. It's very difficult to chew and can be a choking hazard for babies and toddlers.
To solve that problem, I've become adept at sectioning grapefruit with a knife.
I highly recommend practicing this skill if you love grapefruit and want your kids to love it too. Check out this video to see how:
I don't have any recipes for grapefruit, usually we eat them up plain (usually before they can even be gathered up into a bowl).
Enjoy this beautiful delicious fruit before they get expensive and dry. Grapefruit taste best and cost less when purchased between December and April.
I'll be back next week with tips for eating one of my favorite red foods: beets!
References:
USDA Nutrient Database. FoodData Search. Grapefruit, raw, pink and red, florida. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/174675/nutrients
Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs): Recommended Dietary Allowances and Adequate Intakes, Vitamins Food and Nutrition Board, Institute of Medicine, National Academies https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK56068/table/summarytables.t2/?report=objectonly
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2000. Dietary Reference Intakes for Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Selenium, and Carotenoids. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/9810.
Hung WL, Suh JH, Wang Y. Chemistry and health effects of furanocoumarins in grapefruit. J Food Drug Anal. 2017 Jan;25(1):71-83. doi: 10.1016/j.jfda.2016.11.008. Epub 2016 Dec 6. PMID: 28911545; PMCID: PMC9333421.