Fruit: Variety is the Key

I didn’t want to hold you in suspense, so I already revealed that you can put the banana in your smoothie if you like. I’ll tell you why, but first a little more about the study.

The biggest issue, which the researchers acknowledge, is the limited number of subjects. Eight subjects just aren’t enough, nor is 11 in the second study, to be able to make generalizations applicable to others. While it’s interesting, not every subject was impacted in the same way. The researchers didn’t use scatter plots so we could see exactly how the subjects were impacted individually.

The take-home message is don’t blend the fruit with the banana until you’re ready to drink it if you want to maximize polyphenol content, but there’s more to it than that.

Three Observations

Part of the reasoning the researchers had was that people may be selecting their foods based on the polyphenol or phytonutrient content. Have you ever selected the fruits you put in your smoothie, or even those you want to eat, based on the polyphenol levels? I haven’t. I eat fruit because it’s available, better tasting in season than not, and I want to reach that eight to ten servings per day. Polyphenols have never crossed my mind once in that decision.

While I’ve talked about the limited benefits of the study, there are three things we can take away from it.

If you like a banana in your fruit-based smoothie, there’s no reason to change that approach. Even if this were a large study with enough subjects to increase the power and actually be meaningful, you’re not eating the same smoothie three or four times a day; either you’ll get tired of it or your body will adapt. To take a line from a movie, “Nature finds a way.”
You should eat a variety of fruits and vegetables throughout the day. If you eat enough fruit from a variety of sources, you’ll get the polyphenols at some point. You don’t have to eat in some strange schedule to maximize phytonutrient content.
If this study shows anything, it’s that taking phytonutrients in supplement form is an excellent way to complement a good diet. If you already use products with plant concentrates and phytonutrients in them, you may be ahead in the phytonutrient game.

These studies were well thought out and well executed as pilot studies; let’s hope this is a prelude to a larger study from the same research group in the near future. One question I have is whether the consistent consumption of the same banana-blueberry smoothie consumed regularly over six months shows the same results or would there be some form of adaptation resulting in more polyphenol absorption? If I find out, you’ll hear it here first. What are you prepared to do today?