The fancier cousin of apples, pairs have been a fruit bowl staple for generations. But just how good for you are those pointy green fruits? Here, we explore the benefits of eating pears, plus offer some advice on our favourite ways to eat them. But first, let’s talk about their nutritional value:
Pear’s nutritional profile
Pears contain a range of different nutrients, minerals, and vitamins, including but not limited to1:
- Fibre: helps to normalise bowel movements and maintains good digestive health. It’s also linked to lower cholesterol levels and aids in achieving a healthy weight2
- Vitamin C: helps prevent iron deficiency, boosts immunity, and may lower your risk of heart disease3
- Vitamin K: plays a role in blood clotting, bone metabolism, and regulating blood calcium levels4
- Potassium: helps regulate fluid balance, muscle contractions, and nerve signals. It’s also linked with the reduction of blood pressure and water retention
The benefits of eating pears
They’re great for gut health
Due to their high fibre content, pears are great for gut health. One medium pear contains a whopping six grams of fibre – that’s a quarter of the recommended daily amount for adults.5
Why is fibre so good for you? Well, we briefly touched upon it in the nutritional profile above, but fibre is essential for helping the digestive track run smoothly and keeps everything regular.6
Diverticulitis is when the lining of the large intestine develops an infection and becomes inflamed. A 2014 UK study7 linked a high fibre intake can reduce the risk of this infection. However, the authors of the study did claim that this was dependant on the source of the fibre.
They have anti-inflammatory properties
Pears are a good source of flavonoid antioxidants, which help protect against inflammation and may decrease the risk of chronic diseases like heart disease and type 2 diabetes.8 Vitamins C and K (also found in pears) are also known to combat inflammation.9 10
Ways to eat pears
Pears are pretty versatile. Here are some of our favourite ways to enjoy them:
- Slice and toss them into a fruit salad
- Bake them into a delicious sticky toffee pudding (full recipe here!)
- Make a pear puree, the same way that you would make an applesauce for baking
- Bite straight into the fruit
1 https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/285430#nutrition
3 https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/vitamin-c-benefits
4 https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/219867
5 https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/169118/nutrients
6 https://www.wellandgood.com/good-food/pear-benefits/
7 https://gut.bmj.com/content/63/9/1450
8 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3251215/
