Trends toward fitness-oriented lifestyles and more nutritious foods continue to drive menu choices. Fresh pears are a natural addition as a nutritious menu item.
Nutrition and Taste
With fresh pears, good nutrition is possible without sacrificing taste. Their mild
flavor, and buttery texture are an interesting contrast with other elements in an ordinary
green dinner salad, where they can surprisingly complement other ingredients like green
beans, mushrooms, or toasted walnuts.
Here is another taste surprise with versatile Northwest Pears. They pair well with a
vinaigrette dressing... with either a Balsamic or a mild rice wine vinegar base.
Get The Facts
Download the Pear Nutrition Card,
available in the Adobe Acrobat PDF format. Consider the advantages of nutrition plus
customer appeal, and add fresh pears, as a fresh plate garnish or a prepared dish, to your
menu.
More About Pears & Nutrition
Fiber: Fresh pears offer dietary fiber, much of it in the form of Pectin. A
pear weighing 166 grams, provides 2.32 grams of crude fiber, and 4.5 grams of dietary
fiber, of which 41% is pectin. Fiber contains no calories, and is a necessary element of
a healthy diet, helping to sustain blood sugar levels and promoting bowel regularity.
High fiber diets help reduce the risk of colon cancer and can help reduce serum
cholesterol. Pears are a good source of natural fiber.
Potassium: Fresh pears are also an excellent source of potassium, which is an
element lost easily through dehydration or perspiration brought on by active lifestyles or
strenuous excercise. As a comparative example, a pear provides 30% more potassium than an
apple. Potassium is necessary for maintaining heartbeat, muscle contraction, nerve
transmission, as well as carbohydrate and protein metabolism. Potassium is replenished by
eating fresh vegetables, fruits or legumes containing high potassium content. Pears are
an excellent choice.
Vitamin C: Fresh pears contain ascorbic acid, or Vitamin C. One medium size
pear provides 7 mg, or 11% of the RDA for ascorbic acid (vitamin C). Vitamin C is
essential for normal metabolism and tissue repair. It is one of the antioxidant vitamins
that help prevent free radical damage that are destructive by-products of the body's
metabolic process. Vitamin C promotes healing of cuts and bruises and helps guard against
a number of infectious diseases.
A Healthy Choice: Fresh pears also have no cholesterol, sodium, or saturated
fat. They offer a natural, quick source of energy, due largely to high amounts of two
monosacharides: fructose and glucose. A pear is a nutrient dense food, providing more
nutrients per calorie, than calories per nutrient. Carbohydrates make up 98% of the
energy provided by a pear. Carbohydrates are helpful in weight reduction diets since they
contain half as many calories as fat.
Fresh Pears Have No Sodium
A diet high in sodium is a risk factor for osteoporosis, and can upset the body's
fluid balance, and can contribute to hypertension (high blood pressure). Children should
be aware of this early in life when nutritional habits are being formed. Pears contain no
sodium.
Fresh Pears Have No Saturated Fat
Saturated fat contributes to obesity and cholesterol in the body, which in turn
contributes to coronary disease, and some forms of cancer. There is no saturated fat in
fresh pears.
