Top 7 Gut-Healthy Fruits To Eat
Wednesday Nov 9, 2022
The trillions of microbes in your digestive tract not only influence gut health but have a profound impact on your immune health, energy levels, skin, and even weight loss, just to name a few.
For the reasons listed above and more, it makes fostering an environment for beneficial gut bacteria to thrive extremely important. Diet is one of the biggest factors that affect gut health. Have a picture in your mind of tasteless and bland foods that are good for gut health? Do yourself a favor and shake that image right now!
Fruits are some of the best foods for gut health. They're not only delicious (Is your mouth watering thinking about your favorites?) but their high-fiber content, as well as other health benefits which we'll get into below, make them a go-to for improved gut health.
Let's run down some of the best gut-healthy fruits.
What Fruits Are Good for Gut Health?
1. Bananas
We start our list of the best fruits for gut health with bananas, and deservedly so. Bananas are a fantastic source of vitamin B6, potassium, magnesium, vitamin C, manganese, and maybe most importantly, fiber. As we previously mentioned, fiber is a prebiotic that feeds beneficial bacteria in the gut.
Greener bananas and plantains (a type of banana) possess a sort of prebiotic superpower for boosting gut health. One of the main reasons bananas belong on the list of fruits for good digestion is pectin. Research indicates that pectin—a soluble fiber found in bananas and other fruits—can help you avoid constipation by softening your stool. Check out this post for some foods that are natural stool softeners! !
The fiber in bananas also makes them filling. And we all know feeling full makes it easier to stay on track with weight loss goals.
2. Apples
How's the phrase go? An apple a day keeps the sickness away? It might sound a little cliché but there's definitely some truth behind that phrase.
Apples come packed to the brim with fiber and antioxidants, which gains them a worthy spot on the list of gut-healthy fruits. Research links apple consumption to a reduced risk of various diseases and conditions. For example:
- Apples contain soluble fiber, which has been connected to a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer.
- The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition published a study citing that those who ate two apples a day experienced reduced LDL (“bad”) cholesterol and triglyceride levels.
3. Raspberries
Raspberries are also jam-packed with soluble fiber. Sense a pattern here with fruits and soluble fiber?! As far as fruits for good digestion, raspberries are great for relieving constipation and keeping your digestive tract functioning in tip-top shape.
Raspberries also contain potassium, which is important for your heart, as it lowers blood pressure. Manganese, another mineral in raspberries, keeps your skin and bones healthy and plays a role in blood sugar management.
4. Blueberries
Blueberries belong on the Mount Rushmore of best fruits for gut health. Boy, do they pack a nutritional punch! This tiny but powerful gut-healthy fruit is rich in fiber, and antioxidants. Blueberries are also great sources of manganese, as well as vitamins C and K.
The cool thing about blueberries is that research indicates eating them may be able to slow down the aging process and cognitive decline. One study concluded that participants who ate either blueberries or strawberries consistently (both are high in flavonoids) may slow cognitive decline by as much as two and a half years.
Flavonoids are natural compounds in fruits and vegetables that possess anti-inflammatory properties for reducing oxidative stress in the body and preventing various diseases and conditions like heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and Alzheimer's.
5. Dates
Struggling to have regular bowel movements? Dates may just be the ultimate prebiotic fruit for constipation relief. Not only do dates have a ton of fiber but they're plentiful in antioxidants, flavonoids, and minerals like magnesium, potassium, and copper.
6. Grapefruit
This tart, gut-healthy fruit is sweet in taste, low in calories but filling (i.e. promotes weight loss), and chock-full of vitamins and minerals that can provide you with an exuberant amount of health benefits.
Polyphenols (compounds in plant-based foods) are the main reason this food belongs on the list of best fruits for gut health. They reduce inflammation, which plays a hand in a variety of GI-related conditions like leaky gut,IBS, and IBD . Less inflammation can also help prevent things like coronary heart disease and cancer.
One of the vitamins grapefruit contains a lot of is vitamin C, which works to produce collagen for the body. Collagen has many benefits for the skin, including preventing wrinkles and boosting skin elasticity and skin rehydration. And the thing with your skin is that it's basically your body's first line of defense against infection.
7. Peaches
This delicious fruit doesn't just taste good but also has many health benefits. It's high in fiber (making it an easy choice for fruits for good digestion) and has an abundance of vitamins and antioxidants that are good for gut health.
The flavonoids in peaches contain many benefits for improving heart health, including anti-inflammatory properties for keeping cholesterol and blood pressure levels down.
Wrapping Up Best Fruits for Gut Health
Creating an environment for good bacteria to thrive is key to achieving optimal gut health. Probably the easiest way to do that is through your diet since you have a great deal of control over what you eat. But improving gut health doesn't have to feel lackluster and boring.
Tasty fruits like bananas, apples, blueberries, and peaches are some of the best foods for gut health you can eat, mainly due to their abundance of fiber, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and many other health benefits.
Now that you're up to speed on the best fruits for gut health, what about vegetables? Show them some love by checking out our blog post on the best vegetables for gut health.
About the Author
Chad Richardson is a freelance writer from Cincinnati, OH who also enjoys going to the gym and doing his best Arnold Schwarzenegger impersonation, scrolling through Netflix trying to find a new binge-worthy show, and catching a game to root on his hometown sports teams.
