Loquat
Food · Fruit · Food, Typed Supps
A small orange fruit that ripens in early spring, when almost nothing else does.
Stage by stage
- Intake (Peeled, seeds discarded): The skin is usually peeled and the large seeds always removed — they contain cyanogenic compounds.
- Digestion (Sugars in a fibre matrix): Modest fructose and glucose held in fibre give a low glycaemic load per fruit.
- Absorption (Carotenoids need fat): Beta-carotene and beta-cryptoxanthin must enter micelles, which requires fat in the same meal.
- Conversion (Regulated to retinol): Conversion to vitamin A is feedback-controlled, so plant carotenoids cannot cause vitamin A toxicity.
Time to effect
- Weeks: Blood carotenoid levels shift over weeks of regular intake rather than after any single serving.
Allergens
None of the fourteen major allergens. Derived from what this food is, not from a product label.
Eating patterns
Fits: Vegan, Vegetarian, Pescatarian, Halal, Kosher, Keto, Gluten-free. Depends on the product: Low-FODMAP.
Satiety
The satiety index is measured on 240 kcal servings. At 29 kcal per 100 g that is 828 g of this, which is not a serving anyone eats — so the index has nothing to say about it.
Environmental footprint
1.1 kg CO2e and 199 litres of freshwater per kg, matched to "Other fruit" in Poore & Nemecek (2018), Science 360.
Cost band
Cheap — roughly £3 per kg, as a band midpoint rather than a price.
Key nutrients
Nutrition per 100g
- Calories: 29
- Protein: 1g
- Carbohydrate: 4.9g
- of which sugars: 4.9g
- Fat: 0.2g
- of which saturated: 0g
- Fibre: 1.7g
- Sodium: 2mg
Food vs. supplement
Beta-carotene supplements have a poor record; high-dose trials increased lung cancer risk in smokers, an effect never seen from carotenoids eaten as fruit and vegetables. This is a case where the food and the capsule are not interchangeable.
Kitchen tip
Peel, halve and flick out the seeds. The cut flesh browns quickly through polyphenol oxidase, so a squeeze of lemon holds the colour if it is not being eaten straight away.
Common myth
"Loquats are orange, so they must be loaded with vitamin C." In reality: Orange colour in fruit comes from carotenoids, not vitamin C. Loquat carries only around 4mg of vitamin C per 100g — a fraction of what an orange has — while its carotenoid content is genuinely useful.
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