Frozen Grapes as a Snack: Nutritional Benefits, Good for Dieters, & Lower Sugar Alternatives
Nutrients in Frozen Grapes
Black, red and green grapes all have very similar nutrient profiles, and those nutrients are locked in when frozen, so frozen grapes will still have the same nutrition as fresh.
Frozen grapes are a somewhat low-calorie snack, with only 60 calories per half-cup serving, or 80 grams. They aren’t a good choice for Atkins or low-carb dieters with 14 grams of carbs per serving. One of those grams is fiber, while a whopping 12 grams is sugars — grapes are very high in sugar.
However, grapes are a good source of vitamin C, with 9 mg, or 15 percent of the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) per serving. Frozen grapes also deliver 100 IU of vitamin A (2 percent RDA) and 0.36 mg of iron (also 2 percent RDA). There are also 150 mg of potassium per serving of frozen grapes.
Nutritional Benefits
Frozen grapes, like all fruits, have wonderful nutritional benefits. They’re an excellent source of manganese, vitamin C, vitamin A, vitamin B6 and folate. Minerals prevalent in grapes include potassium, iron, phosphorus, calcium, selenium and magnesium.
The most interesting nutritional benefits from frozen grapes, however, come from the phytonutrients present in grapes, known as polyphenols. One type of polyphenol, flavonoids, are the compounds that give grape skins their color, and they’re associated with numerous health benefits. Primarily, flavonoids have been shown to have anti-aging properties because of their powerful antioxidant action.
Reservatrol, another polyphenol found in frozen grapes, is another antioxidant that appears to have several benefits, such as helping prevent heart disease, cancer, and Alzheimer’s disease.
A few other compounds present in grapes have potential nutritional benefit as well. Pterostilbene and saponins, present in the skins of grapes, may lower cholesterol. And grape extracts have even demonstrated antibacterial properties.
Do Frozen Grapes Make a Good Snack?
The short answer: absolutely! Frozen grapes as a snack are legendary among weight-loss dieters, because they are sweet, nutritious, low-calorie, and take time to eat — it’s nearly impossible to down handful after handful of frozen grapes. Most people easily limit themselves to a dozen or so at a time, due to their coldness. Frozen grapes have a satisfying texture as well, almost creamy or sorbet-like.
And when you eat frozen grapes, you get all the nutritional benefit of regular grapes, including all of those beneficial flavonoids, reservatrol, and other phytonutrients present in grape skins. Remember, though, it’s red, purple, and black grapes that contain most of these phytonutrients — they’re in much lower concentration in green grapes. Red, purple, and black grapes are your best choice.
Alternatives to Frozen Grapes
If you love the idea of frozen fruit snacks but aren’t wild about grapes, try freezing other fruits. Like grapes, bananas develop a creamy texture when frozen — try freezing a banana in slices to snack on. Other fruits that freeze well are orange slices, pineapple in slices or chunks, kiwifruit, and berries of all kinds.
If grapes are too high sugar for you, consider lower sugar fruits like apples (freeze in slices), grapefruit sections, cranberries, blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, melon, papaya, guava, dried frozen apricots, peach slices, and nectarines.
References
- Chow Line: Grapes Have Bunches of Benefits: https://www.ag.ohio-state.edu/~news/story.php?id=4296
- Potential health benefits from the flavonoids in grape products on vascular disease: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12083471
- Bioactivity of grape chemicals for human health: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19445314
- Unraveling the Relationship between Grapes and Health: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2728694/
Image credits:
- https://www.flickr.com/photos/48214151@N08/4970988756
- Screenshot by Amy Carson
- https://www.flickr.com/photos/c-130/771688485/
