Mixed Dried Fruit
Food · Fruit · Food, Typed Supps
Fruit with the water taken out, so everything in it — sugar included — is about four times as concentrated.
Stage by stage
- Intake (Sticky, prolonged contact): Chewy fruit clings to enamel far longer than fresh fruit, which is the main dental concern.
- Stomach (Sugars released): Concentrated sugars are freed, though intact cell walls and skins hold some back.
- Small intestine (Matrix-slowed absorption): The retained fruit matrix flattens the glucose response relative to free sugar.
- Circulation (Potassium and blood pressure): 762mg potassium per 100g works against sodium in blood pressure regulation.
Time to effect
- Under an hour: Blood glucose rises over roughly 30 to 45 minutes, more gradually than free sugar of the same amount.
Allergens
None of the fourteen major allergens. May contain: Sulphites. Derived from what this food is, not from a product label.
Eating patterns
Fits: Vegan, Vegetarian, Pescatarian, Halal, Kosher, Gluten-free. Depends on the product: Low-FODMAP.
Satiety
Not scored: the satiety index is measured on 240 kcal servings, and nobody eats a 240 kcal serving of this. The question does not apply rather than the answer being unknown.
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: 304
- Protein: 2.2g
- Carbohydrate: 73.6g
- of which sugars: 71.2g
- Fat: 0.7g
- of which saturated: 0g
- Fibre: 3.3g
- Sodium: 12mg
Food vs. supplement
Dried fruit is a sensible whole-food route to potassium and fibre, and it beats a potassium supplement for most people because the dose arrives with fruit acids, polyphenols and fibre rather than alone. It is a poor route to anything else, and portion control matters more here than with almost any other fruit.
Kitchen tip
Portioning it out beats eating from the bag, because dried fruit gives almost none of the volume feedback that fresh fruit does — 40g of sultanas is a small handful and the equivalent of a large bunch of grapes. If teeth are the concern, eat it with a meal rather than grazing on it, and rinse afterwards.
Common myth
"Dried fruit is just fruit, so the sugar does not count." In reality: The concentrated sugar is genuinely fruit sugar and WHO does not count it as free sugar. But commercial mixes often add sugar on top — 9.3g per 100g in this one — and the ease of eating four fruits' worth in one mouthful is real regardless of where the sugar came from.
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