I Call Foul! Washington Post's 'Power Fruits'...

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Malkola
Malkola Posts: 2
in Food and Nutrition
Sent a link to an web article from the Washington Post that has a list of the Top-5 'Power Fruits and Vegetables'
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2014/06/05/finally-a-list-of-powerhouse-fruits-and-vegetables-ranked-by-how-much-nutrition-they-contain/

The list is interesting, I'm going to have to try some water cress in my salads now to see if it's better than the Baby Spinach my wife has me choking down currently.. but the list of their 'Power Fruits' is disturbing.

The list, recruited here:
1) Red Pepper ..?
2) Pumpkin ..??!?
3) Tomato !!?!?!!!
4) Lemon ...

The Red Pepper, Pumpkin, and Tomato are FRUITS? I mean.. I knew about the Tomato.. but the other 2? Fruits? That's just cheating. Fruits are supposed to be delicious and edible from the tree/plant, aren't they? (Unless it's a melon, in which case the deliciousness makes up for the lack of portability)

I demand a recount! There's no way the Red Pepper is a fruit. You can't throw any of those 4 'fruits' into your bad to eat on the run.. the closest is a lemon, and can you imagine slamming a lemon and then going to a business meeting?

Come on Nature.. throw me a bone here.

Replies

  • Confuzzled4ever
    Confuzzled4ever Posts: 2,860 Member
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    haha.. i eat peppers like apples... but no.. they are not a fruit
  • Pie319
    Pie319 Posts: 129 Member
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    From a biological perspective, they are the fruit of the plant.

    the only reason we colloquially distinguish between fruit and vegetable is nutritional value.

    Edit to add fun fact: peanut shells are technically the fruit of the peanut plant
  • KombuchaCat
    KombuchaCat Posts: 834 Member
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    LOL, yes those foods are very healthy but to call them "power" anything is a bit absurd. I do agree that some foods are "superfoods" like acai, raw cacao, goji berries, blue green algae, etc but overall if you make sure to eat a variety of whole food including plenty of plant matter you'll be fine.
  • runfatmanrun
    runfatmanrun Posts: 1,090 Member
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    haha.. i eat peppers like apples... but no.. they are not a fruit

    Actually, this is incorrect. Technically, peppers are fruits. I like to eat them like an apple as well. And yes, all 4 foods listed are fruits.

    ETA: And I would not call them power fruits either, they just have some benefits.
  • jnord8729
    jnord8729 Posts: 234 Member
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    Yeah, peppers and squash (pumpkin is a kind of squash) are TECHNICALLY fruit, but as far as taste and nutrition, we call them vegetables since they are not high in sugar or very sweet
  • MyChocolateDiet
    MyChocolateDiet Posts: 22,281 Member
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    Yeah even if those are technically fruits for the purposes of a "fruits AND vegetables" list they really should have made an effort to make a list of things people in general regard as fruits.

    It would have been nice to have a list of savory fresh things that have nutrition and a list of sweet ones.
  • goldthistime
    goldthistime Posts: 3,214 Member
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    Technically they are fruits, as is the seed containing bulb of a rose after it's petals fall away. But yes, they are cheating a little by using the scientific definition rather than the conventional definition. Surprising not to see blueberries or goji berries or acai on the list.
  • Mama_Jag
    Mama_Jag Posts: 474 Member
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    However, calling it a vegetable simply because the general population is wrong would not be any better.
  • CloverKyle
    CloverKyle Posts: 2
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    Botanically speaking, these are all fruits. They develop from flowers and house seeds. Vegetables like carrots for example, do not derive from flowers they are just edible plant parts, in this case a root. However, legally, many fruits have been reclassified as vegetables. The tomato was ruled a vegetable by the US Supreme Court in 1893.

    Source for tomato fact and other interesting info: http://www.businessinsider.com/supreme-court-tomato-is-vegetable-2013-12
  • stevencloser
    stevencloser Posts: 8,911 Member
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    In short, everything that contains seeds is a fruit. That includes peppers, cucumbers, pumpkins, melons, the shells of nuts and legumes (the nuts/peas/beans are the seeds of the fruit) and a lot of other things we call vegetables.
    From that, vegetables should only be things that do not contain seeds. Like roots (carrots, turnips and so on) and leaves (spinach, lettuce...)

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