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Aug 7, 2023 · Learn how peaches can boost your immune system, heart health, digestion, and more. Find out the types, nutrition, and uses of peaches and nectarines.
- Overview
- 1. Packed With Nutrients and Antioxidants
- 2. May Aid Digestion
- 3. May Improve Heart Health
- 4. May Protect Your Skin
- 5. May Prevent Certain Types of Cancer
- 6. May Reduce Allergy Symptoms
- 7–9. Other Potential Benefits
- 10. Widely Available and Easy to Add to Your Diet
- How to Select and Store Peaches
The nutritious peach is chock-full of antioxidants and may protect from heart disease, cancer, and moisture loss in your skin, among several other benefits.
Welcome to Fresh Food Fast, your source for creative, accessible recipes and nutrition tips to make eating healthier just a little bit easier — and more fun!
Peaches are rich in many vitamins, minerals, and beneficial plant compounds.
One medium-sized peach (5.4 ounces or 150 grams) provides approximately (2):
•Calories: 58
•Protein: 1 gram
•Fat: less than 1
gram
Peaches may contribute to healthy digestion.
One medium-sized fruit provides about 2 grams of fiber — half of which is soluble fiber, while the other half is insoluble (2, 11).
Insoluble fiber adds bulk to your stool and helps move food through your gut, reducing the likelihood of constipation (12).
On the other hand, soluble fiber provides food for beneficial bacteria in your intestines. In turn, these bacteria produce short-chain fatty acids — such as acetate, propionate, and butyrate — which feed the cells of your gut.
Short-chain fatty acids in your gut may also help reduce inflammation and improve symptoms of digestive disorders like Crohn’s disease, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), and ulcerative colitis (13, 14, 15).
Peach flowers are another part of the fruit that may benefit digestion. They’re commonly used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat digestive disorders.
Regularly eating fruit — including peaches — may promote heart health.
Peaches may lower risk factors for heart disease, such as high blood pressure and cholesterol levels (18).
What’s more, test-tube studies show that peaches may bind to bile acids — compounds produced by your liver from cholesterol.
The bound bile acids — together with the cholesterol they contain — are eventually excreted through your feces, which may help lower blood cholesterol levels (19).
Additional test-tube and animal studies found that peaches may reduce total and “bad” LDL cholesterol levels, as well as blood pressure and triglyceride levels (20, 21, 22).
Research in obese rats further reported that peach juice may lower levels of the hormone angiotensin II that raises blood pressure (22, 23).
Peaches may have protective effects that help keep your skin healthy.
Test-tube studies indicate that compounds found in peaches may improve your skin’s ability to retain moisture — thus improving skin texture (24).
What’s more, both test-tube and animal studies show that extracts made from peach flowers or flesh applied directly to the skin may help prevent UV damage (25, 26, 27).
Peach flower extracts were also found to delay the development of skin tumors in mice (28).
However, more research in humans is needed before conclusions can be drawn.
Summary Compounds
Like most fruits, peaches provide beneficial plant compounds that may offer some protection against various cancers.
Specifically, peach skin and flesh are rich in carotenoids and caffeic acid — two types of antioxidants found to have anticancer properties (29, 30, 31, 32).
Test-tube and animal research has also shown that compounds in peach seeds may limit the growth of non-cancerous skin tumors and prevent them from turning into cancerous ones (33).
Not to mention, peaches are full of polyphenols — a category of antioxidants shown to reduce the growth and limit the spreading of cancer cells in test-tube studies (34).
Peach polyphenols may have the ability to kill cancerous cells as well, without causing any damage to healthy ones (35).
In one animal study, these polyphenols were particularly effective at preventing a specific type of breast cancer from growing and spreading.
Peaches may reduce allergy symptoms.
When your body is exposed to an allergen, it releases histamines, or chemicals made by your immune system to help rid your body of the allergen.
Histamines are part of your body’s defense system and trigger allergy symptoms like sneezing, itching, or coughing.
Research shows that peaches may help reduce allergy symptoms by preventing the release of histamines in the blood (37).
Moreover, test-tube studies report that peach extracts may be effective as well and limit the inflammation commonly seen in allergic reactions (38, 39).
However, more research is needed to determine the strength of these effects in people with allergies.
Peaches may offer several other health benefits. The most well-researched include:
1.May boost immunity: Peaches
are rich in immune-boosting nutrients and antioxidants. Test-tube studies
report that they may also fight certain types of bacteria (40).
2.May protect against certain toxins: In one
study, peach extracts given to smokers increased the removal of nicotine
Peaches are easy to find and can be added to your diet in many ways.
They can be eaten raw, baked, grilled, broiled, or sautéed and are easily incorporated into warm or cold dishes alike.
For instance, fresh peaches make a great nutrient-rich snack and can be eaten either on their own or topped with yogurt and a handful of nuts.
Peaches can be added to salads or stirred into a hearty chickpea curry. They add an unexpected touch to salsa and are also a popular ingredient in many desserts.
Lastly, peaches can be blended into a smoothie or gently mashed to add flavor to your water.
Summary Peaches
Peaches come in a wide range of varieties — some white, others yellow. White peaches are sweeter, while yellow ones tend to be more tart.
When selecting peaches, typically the sweeter their smell, the riper they will be. Try to avoid brownish, bruised, or wrinkled fruits, which are either damaged or overripe. Instead, look for peaches with a hard or only slightly soft flesh.
You can tell a peach is ripe and ready to eat when you press down on its flesh and feel it slightly give.
Peaches continue to ripen after they’re picked. So if your peaches are too firm, try setting them on your countertop in a single layer for one to three days.
Ripe peaches last about one week at room temperature. If you don’t plan to eat them within this timeframe, it’s best to store them in your refrigerator to avoid over-ripening.
Ripe peaches can also be frozen, but it’s best to first slice them and coat their flesh with a bit of lemon juice to avoid browning.
The peach became the state fruit of Georgia, nicknamed the "Peach State", in 1995. The peach went from feral trees utilized opportunistically to a tended commercial crop in the Southern United States in the 1850s, as the boll weevil attacked regional cotton crops. When Georgia reached peak production in the 1920s, elaborate festivals celebrated ...
- Reducing cancer risk. Peaches provide a significant amount of vitamin C. This vitamin is a powerful antioxidant that can help prevent the formation of free radicals, which are compounds that have links to cancer development.
- Preserving skin health. Research suggests that regularly consuming vitamin C can improve the appearance and health of the skin. This powerful antioxidant plays a vital role in forming collagen.
- Contributing to fiber intake. A cup of diced peaches contains 2.52 g of fiber. The USDA recommend 22.4–28.0 g per day for female adults and 30.8–33.6 g each day for male adults, meaning that this serving size can provide at least 7.5% of a person’s recommended daily fiber intake.
- Topping up potassium intake. Potassium is an essential electrolyte that helps cells function. It can also help reduce the risk of high blood pressure, stroke, and kidney stones, according to the Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS).
Jun 15, 2024 · Learn about peach, a sweet fruit tree with a fuzzy or smooth skin and a hard stone pit. Find out its origin, varieties, cultivation, and uses in this article from Britannica.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Jan 9, 2024 · Learn about 24 types of peaches, from yellow to white, freestone to clingstone, and their origins and uses. Find out how to choose, store, and enjoy this delicious stone fruit in various recipes and dishes.
Aug 26, 2021 · Peaches are a type of stone fruit that are rich in vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. They can help improve digestion, heart health, immune system, eye health and skin health.
