Getting all the vitamins and minerals you need can be difficult if you are not eating the right foods, but eating two to four servings of fruit per day, including black seedless grapes, as suggested by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, contributes greatly to your efforts. Table grapes, used for snacking and other culinary purposes, range in color from red to dark purple. You can eat them out-of-hand or incorporate them into recipes such as salads or baked goods. They can also be dried to make raisins.
Basic Nutrition
A 1 1/2-cup serving of black seedless grapes contains 90 calories, a good choice for snacking as The Diet Channel notes a good calorie range for snacks is 100 to 200. This quantity amounts to three servings of fruit for the USDA Food Pyramid, satisfying or nearly satisfying the suggested daily fruit intake. These grapes have little fat -- 1 g per serving -- and provide no protein. Additionally, you take in 24 g of carbohydrates and 1 g of fiber in one serving of black seedless grapes.
Vitamins and Minerals
Black seedless grapes serve as a good source of vitamin C, with 25 percent of the daily recommended intake. The vitamin C in this fruit helps your body produce collagen, a vital component of your skin, tendons, ligaments and blood vessels. It also promotes good immunity and may help prevent heart disease. One serving of grapes provides you with lesser amounts of other vitamins and minerals, including vitamin A, calcium and iron. These nutrients make black seedless grapes useful for protecting your eyesight against disease and degeneration, promoting strong bones and teeth and oxygenating your body.
Sugar
Grapes are naturally sweet, containing 23 g of sugar per serving. Despite the sugar content, this type of sugar should not harm your health. A popular topping for cakes involves frosting seedless grapes with sugar, with does add potentially harmful granulated sugar. The American Heart Association recommends limiting your consumption of added sugars, such as granulated sugar, to 25.2 to 37.8 g per day to avoid the risk of obesity and general inflammation in your body that may cause arthritis and other medical conditions.
Benefits
The skins of black seedless grapes contain compounds such as resveratrol and polyphenols that benefit your health. Research published in January 2011 issue of the "Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences" notes that resveratrol in grapes may act as a therapeutic agent of severe acute pancreatitis, preventing its progression. Polyphenols in some seedless grapes may help decrease your risk of developing cancer according to research in the 2008 "Journal of Environmental Pathology, Toxicology and Oncology."
Member Comments