Is there any nutrition in strawberry tops?
Q. When I make a smoothie, I like to leave the tops of fresh strawberries on. Is there any nutritional value in the leaves?
A. Strawberry leaves do have some nutritional/medicinal value. A tincture of strawberry leaves is used in herbal medicine to treat intestinal complaints, diarrhea, bladder problems, and congestion. They contain some vitamin C as well as other flavonoids and proanthocyanidins and have a mild diuretic action.
But unless you are harvesting the berries yourself, you probably don't have many actual leaves attached to your strawberries. I can't find any information on the nutritional value of the little "caps." They may also have small amounts of antioxidant activity and a bit of fiber but I doubt it amounts to much. Still, there's no reason not to blend them into your smoothie. Waste not, want not, right?
Just take care to wash your strawberries thoroughly with a vegetable wash or distilled white vinegar to remove as much pesticide residue as possible. Strawberries absorb and retain a lot of pesticides. Better yet, choose organic if you can get and/or afford them.
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Posted by: Monica Reinagel | Jun 23, 2008 8:50:00 AM
Paul,
You'll find a discussion on this topic on this post: http://blog.nutritiondata.com/ndblog/2007/10/100-of-daily-ne.html
Posted by: PaulS | Jun 12, 2008 6:19:05 PM
I've read a lot of the posts and articles on here and there's a lot of talk about vitamins, etc. How bad is it for you to be getting vitamins from pills?
I've been working out a lot and restricting calorie intake. I usually try and take a half multi-vitamin in the morning and the other half in the evening.
I've also been taking some creatine and L-Glutamine and protien for muscle recovery. Just wanted to get Monica's thoguhts. Thanks.
