What is in your African Star Apple, Agbalumo?

What is in your  African Star Apple, Agbalumo? A number of people know that Agbalumo is a good source of Vitamin C and possible calcium, magnesium and a number of other micronutrients but how much calories and how much of these micronutrients are in Agbalumo?

Since the release of the Nigerian Food Composition Table, it has been a breath of fresh air having some insights into what some of our Nigerian foods contain. So, I am going to share information about Agbalumo.

According to the Nigeria Composition table, 100g of African Star Apple, Agbalumo, contains 107kcal of energy. What is 100g of Agbalumo? About two medium-sized Agbalumo is equivalent to 100g of Agbalumo.

On the average, 2 Medium Agbalumo fruits contain about 72.7g of water, 4g of protein, 4.9g of fat, 9.5g of carbohydrates, and 4.3g of fibre.

In terms of micronutrients, it contains 391mg of calcium, 2.3mg of Iron, 181.2mg of magnesium, 682.5mg of potassium, 340.2mcg of beta-carotene (vitamin A), and 73.6mg of vitamin C. It also contains small amounts of other nutrients like niacin, riboflavin.

I compared Agbalumo to Orange and mango because the 3 seem to be in season (or at least you can get them in market places). They all contain a nice dose of vitamin C, Beta-carotene (Vitamin A), fibre and number of other nutrients. Take a look:

The column for recommended intake per day is the average daily amount of nutrients that is considered to meet the needs of healthy people. Below is a graph showing how much of some nutrients Adults and toddlers need each day. (Please note that for some nutrients like Iron, I found an average for display. However,  different people have different iron requirements.)

Consuming about 2-3 Medium sized Agbalumo will meet your vitamin C needs depending on your age. The flesh or pulp also provides you with some fibre which is great for the health.  For the other fruits, you would need to consume about 3 medium -sized mango fruits and 2 medium oranges to meet up your vitamin C needs for the day. For other components in the fruit, Agbalumo would give you more potassium, calcium and even iron than the other two.

However, note that every fruit is unique bringing its own strength and pizzazz to the world of fruits and vegetables. So, this comparison is just for you to know what is in your Agbalumo comparing it to what you normally obtain from Oranges and Mangoes which are more popular fruits.

And hey! Don’t forget to eat better and live better!

Important notice: There is no Recommended intake for beta-carotene.