Will sugar content rise when fruit ripens?

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Leaving fruit on the plant until it is fully ripe is not just a vague command in the center of the garden; ripening the fruit means that it is at the peak of taste and sweetness. Most fruits contain sugar that makes them delicious. These increase over time, but this also means that when you eat fruit, the total sugar load increases. However, this does not mean that if you want to avoid adding sugar to your diet, you must avoid fruit altogether.

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span= "article-image inner caption-class"> fully ripe fruits increase sugar content. (Image: jupiterimages/comstock/getty images)

As the fruit matures, the sugar content of most fruits does increase. When the fruit is still on the tree or vine, the increase in sugar and sweetness is part of the ripening process; this is not a separate occurrence. In fact, sugar not only stops growing when the fruit is ripe, but decreases. Some fruits will continue to ripen after harvesting, but in this case, sugar will not increase.

As far as fruits and plants are concerned, the only purpose of increasing sugar content in fruits is to attract organisms that can transmit seeds. Birds, rodents and even sloppy humans can leave seeds in fruits on the ground to help plants reproduce. If the fruit is too acidic for animals to eat, it is difficult for plants to spread.

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Even lemons have their predators; squirrels occasionally eat those fruits, although lemons are not always squirrels'favorite. < p > < H3 > Notes < / H3 > < p > If you pick fruits too early, especially those that do not continue to ripen after harvesting, the taste of fruits will not be so good, and may even be unhealthy. Purdue University says that pineapples tend to have fairly high starch content before they are fully ripe, while immature papayas have high latex content and may be irritating. Although immature papayas are sometimes part of Southeast Asian cuisine, they are cooked and not eaten raw like mature papayas. Fruit tastes sweet, and picking early only means that you have immature, unpopular fruit, not low-sugar fruit. < p > < H3 > diabetic patients can eat fruit. The Harvard School of Public Health did note that the higher the sugar content in ripe fruit, the higher the glycemic index. However, this does not mean that fruits contain a lot of digestible carbohydrates. Harvard University takes watermelon as an example. This water-filled fruit has a high glycemic index but a low carbohydrate content. Diabetics should discuss with their doctors how to calculate their blood sugar load, a measure that combines glycemic index and carbohydrate content, because it will help them to eat fruits and other foods in their diet. Simply picking unripe fruit does not help people eat more fruit in their diet.

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