Fruits That Improve Muscle Mass

Strength training to increase lean muscle mass requires more than just hard work with resistance. You also need extra protein, adequate calories to support muscle growth and rest between training sessions to allow muscle repair. The President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports recommends 1.5 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight and an additional 1,500 calories per day. Behind the scenes in muscle growth are micronutrients, hormones and a nutrient delivery system. Fruits provide some of these back-stage elements necessary to improve your muscle mass.

Nutrient Conduit

Nutrients travel to and from your muscles in your blood. Packaged in fruits are iron, pyridoxine, folate, riboflavin and vitamin A, some of the basic-building blocks for red blood cells. A source of iron is dried apricots, with 1.1 milligrams per 1/3 cup. A 7 inch banana supplies 0.4 milligrams of pyridoxine. Eating 2 cups of strawberries provides 80 milligrams of folate and 196 milligrams of vitamin C, a source of iron-absorbing power. Botanically, a fruit, one small avocado furnishes 0.1 milligrams of riboflavin. A supplier of vitamin A, present in fruits in the pro-vitamin A form, is half of a 5 inch cantaloupe, which supplies 56 milligrams.

Muscle Building and Repair

Thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, pyridoxine and pantothenic acid are water-soluble vitamins that help to build amino acids, the basic-building blocks of proteins mandatory for increasing muscle mass. One cup of fresh orange juice supplies 0.2 milligrams of thiamine, 0.1 milligrams of riboflavin, 1.0 milligrams of niacin, 0.1 milligrams of pyridoxine and 0.5 milligrams of pantothenic acid. Necessary for all tissue growth, including proteins, another source of pro-vitamin A is mangoes, with 10 milligrams in 1 cup.

Energy Processing

Co-enzymes play a major role in processing energy needed to build muscle mass. They include thiamine, pantothenic acid, riboflavin, niacin and manganese. One large orange supplies 0.2 milligrams of thiamine and 0.5 milligrams of pantothenic acid. A source of riboflavin, dried figs yield 0.14 milligrams per a half cup. Niacin is plentiful in 20 cantaloupe balls, which provides 2.0 milligrams, and dried apricots with 1.2 milligrams per 1/3 cup. Sources of the trace element manganese include 1 cup pineapple, with 1.5 milligrams, and 2 cups of sliced strawberries with 1.2 milligrams.

Hormones

A hormone that promotes muscle mass growth is testosterone. Eating one small avocado provides 61 milligrams of folate, 0.5 milligrams of zinc and 0.2 milligrams of pyridoxine, micronutrients necessary to increase production of testosterone. Other fruit sources of zinc include a 7-inch banana with 0.4 milligrams, 1 cup of mangoes with 0.5 milligrams and 1/2 cup dried figs with 0.3 milligrams. Another hormone that improves muscle mass, growth hormone, remains low in the presence of high insulin levels. Enjoy low glycemic index fruits like apples, pears and plums and dried fruits, such as apricots, apples and prunes. The glycemic index measures how quickly a food causes blood glucose to rise.