Raisins are ubiquitous in muesli and trail mix – but are they healthy?
Raisins are nothing more than dried grapes: the grapes are harvested when ripe and hung up to dry until they hardly contain any water. There are different varieties, from the light sultanas to the small, dark currants.
Rock fruits like raisins are often recommended as healthy snack alternatives to sweets. In the following sections you will learn whether raisins are really healthy.
Are Raisins Healthy? These are their ingredients
Like all dried fruits, raisins mainly contain: Sugar – a full 60 percent. Therefore, it is already clear that raisins are only healthy as long as you eat them in moderation. The advantage over other sweets, however, is that the sugar from raisins does not get into your blood as quickly because raisins contain a lot of fiber (four to five percent). That means: raisins fill you up longer than other sweet snacks and make you less prone to cravings.
Above all, raisins are healthy because they contain valuable minerals and vitamins. The proportion of these nutrients is particularly high:
B vitamins: The B vitamins from B1 to B12 are irreplaceable in our body, especially for the numerous metabolic processes. Raisins contain several B vitamins, specifically B1, B3, B5, and B6.
Potassium: This mineral is especially important for muscles. Raisins contain 780 milligrams of potassium per 100 grams, which is about 20 percent of the recommended daily allowance.
Iron: Iron fulfills important tasks in the body, in particular it ensures that the cells are sufficiently supplied with oxygen. We need to consume around ten to 15 milligrams of iron every day – 100 grams of raisins already contain around 20 percent of this. Important: Your body can only absorb this large amount of iron together with vitamin C. Since raisins contain very little vitamin C, you should eat them with something containing vitamin C. How about a delicious couscous salad with peppers, raisins and a lemon dressing, for example?
By the way: Unlike fresh grapes or wine, raisins contain hardly any of the notorious secondary plant substance resveratrol, which is found in grapes and is said to have a cell-protecting effect in our body, among other things.
Are Raisins Healthy? Quality matters
Raisins have a long shelf life thanks to their sugar content – but sultanas in particular are often sulphurised. The sulphurisation should make them even more durable and ensure that the raisins do not discolour.
Attention: A sulphurization must only be declared on the packaging as soon as ten milligrams of sulphites or more are used for one kilo of raisins. You can only completely avoid sulphites if you explicitly buy unsulphured fruit. But what is the problem with sulfites? On the one hand some people do not tolerate them well, on the other hand they reduce the vitamin B1 content of the raisins.
With organic raisins, you have the best chance that they are unsulphured. By choosing to use raisins made from organically grown grapes, you also avoid using pesticides. Since grapes are susceptible to many germs and fungi, they are often heavily treated with pesticides in conventional cultivation.
