Stone fruit is a type of fruit that is soft and fleshy on its outside while it contains a very hard “Stone-like” seed inside. Usually, these stone fruits are available in the warmer months and cannot grow in colder months. So, you can take the best advantages of these fruits during the summers.

Let us talk more about what is stone fruit and know if it is good for you.

Stone fruits include apricots, plums, peach, lychee, mangoes, and cherries. These are highly delicious and are packed with essential nutrients.

Stone fruits are part of the genus Prunus, which share a similar characteristic, or a large and hard seed that looks like a stone. Stone fruit is known for its impressive nutritional profile. Though the nutritional profile of stone fruit vary depending on the variety and the type of fruit; however, they are generally loaded with important nutrients beneficial for bones, heart, eyes, immune system, digestive system and many more.

Each type of stone fruit is rich in phytonutrients known for fighting inflammation and can help in protecting your health.

Most of the stone fruits, especially apricots, peaches, and nectarines, are rich in vitamins like vitamin A and vitamin C, fiber, and potassium. Generally, stone fruits are low in calories, fats, and sugar and this makes them a healthy source for weight management.

With their refreshing flavor, these stone fruits also host a lot of health benefits. So, is Stone fruit good for you? Well! We can say, “Yes! It is.” There are a lot of ways which tells us that stone fruits are good for us. So, let us take a look at the benefits of stone fruits.

One of the most important benefits of stone fruit is that it can actually boost your immunity. Antioxidants like the Vitamin C are present in stone fruits and they help you in building a strong immune system. This, in turn, helps you reduce the impact and also the duration of summer colds in you.

Lychees are especially rich in high content of vitamin C, which is good for the immune system, bones, and skin.

The vitamin C helps in improving the production of WBC, which helps to fight infections and also prevent the entry of any kind of virus inside your body.

Potassium is the mineral that is required for keeping your nerves and your muscles in good condition and a deficiency of this mineral can result in fatigue, and increased blood pressure. So, consuming any stone fruit can help you promote healthy nerves and muscles.

It is known that cherry juice has been known to reduce muscle pain and research suggest that long-distance runners consuming the juice experience a reduced level of muscle pain than those who went without consuming the cherry juice. Cherry juice is known for its anti-inflammatory properties and is often a reliant post-recovery drink that helps reducing muscle soreness and muscle pain.

Stone fruit can also help to fight diabetes and obesity. There is recent research that has found that plums, nectarines, and peaches contain a unique mixture of compounds known to fight metabolic syndrome, where obesity, as well as inflammation, results in serious health conditions like cardiovascular diseases and diabetes.

Metabolic syndrome is considered to be a cluster of conditions that might increase the risk of getting heart disease, heart stroke, and diabetes; mostly instigated by inflammation and obesity. Stone fruits have phenolic groups which are known to be successful enough in fighting against metabolic syndrome.

The orange color of peaches, apricot, and nectarines offer a lot of benefits in sharpening your eyesight. The carotenoid content, or a precursor to vitamin A, the pigment is known to maintain good eye health.

Stone fruits are known to be an excellent source of fiber, which is beneficial for digesting your food quite smoothly and efficiently, thus keeping you feel full for a long period of time. Fiber is also known to shown beneficial effects in treating blood cholesterol levels, diabetes, and maintaining a healthy weight.

One more thing that makes stone fruit good for you is that it strengthens your bone and teeth. Vitamin- K is essential for maintaining healthy bones and teeth; thus helps in reducing the risk of decaying of teeth and conditions like osteoarthritis and osteoporosis. Plums are the stone fruits that are known to contain a high amount of vitamin K and taking 2 plumps can offer you about 1/10^th of your daily vitamin K requirements. Vitamin K is also found in raspberries, peaches, and blackberries and are required for bone mineralization and also maintaining calcium balance; the two processes that are very much important for bone strength and bone health.

Apart from vitamin K, stone fruits like cherries, apricots, mangoes, plums, nectarines, and blackberries are known to be rich sources of potassium known to be beneficial for the body and it maintains nerve function and also regulates muscle contractions.

Cherries are loaded with melatonin, which is the byproduct of serotonin and utilized for inducing sleep by controlling the sleep and wake cycles of the body. Peach is the fruit that is also known as the “fruit of calmness” and might reduce feelings of anxiety and relax the body and promote a fair restful sleep during the night.

Moreover, cherries are also known to treat insomnia along with gout. Consuming these stone fruits daily can lower your risk of a painful gout attack and this was published by Arthritis & Rheumatology. This study found that patients of gout, who consumed 10-12 cherries every day or took cherry extract for 2 days, reduced their painful gout attacks by 35% over one year.

Tart cherries are also known to be an excellent source of melatonin hormone that is known to promote a healthy night’s sleep. It was found from a study that melatonin levels significantly rose in test subjects after consuming tart cherries.

It is true that stone fruits are not as potassium-rich, like that of fruits like bananas. However, as most Americans really struggle in getting the recommended 4,700 mg per day; every bit of the mineral that you get, makes a big difference; especially if you are trying to reduce or lower your blood pressure.

Potassium plays a crucial role in promoting healthy levels of blood pressure by relaxing your blood vessels and by helping your body get rid of any excess sodium. Most of the stone fruits serve up to 6% of your daily needs of potassium.

You can directly consume fresh stone fruits like plum, lychee, or peach. However, you can also do something interesting with these stone fruits to add a twist on the way. Here are some ideas for you which can use to eat stone fruits.

Halved and pitted plums, peaches, nectarines and apricots are firm, and thus they hold their own shape even under high heat. You need to serve them in one side salad along with grilled chicken, or blend them into a smoothie along with yogurt.

What more can you do with stone fruits? You can roast stone fruits and toss them in a salad. Or can stir them into plain yogurt or cottage cheese.

You can top sliced stone fruit with a mix of nuts, oats, brown sugar, and butter, and then bake it well until it gets bubbly.

Final Thoughts:

So, from the above description, we also know to some of the best ways by which stone fruit is good for our health. If you are actually concerned about improving your overall health. Then do add any of the top Stone fruits to your daily diet and experience the wonderful benefits.