In the spotlight - Guavas

It's that time of year again when more of us starting to pick up coughs, colds, sore throats and the flu. No one likes to feel under the weather, so it's no surprise that we do our upmost to avoid the aforementioned conditions, which for some people includes taking a high dose Vitamin C supplement. This vitamin has long been heralded as a prevention and way of reducing the severity of a cold, linked to its beneficial action on immune function, but is this substantiated by scientific evidence? A review of the evidence in 2009 indicated that Vitamin C is not effective in preventing a cold in the general population, though is effective in doing so in athletes who train in subarctic conditions - strenuous exercise has been shown to dampen the immune system, as can the cold, which would explain this finding. This review also found that although Vitamin C does not reduce the severity of cold symptoms, it can reduce the duration of a cold.

Despite these findings, if you are still thinking of reaching for a Vitamin C supplement, avoid those with mega-doses. The body's daily requirement is 40mg, but supplements with a daily dose of a gram or more - 25 times the recommended amount - are available. Taking such high doses of this vitamin might be detrimental to health, as high doses of Beta-carotene and Vitamin E have been linked with an increased risk of mortality, though further research is still needed to see whether the same applies to Vitamin C.

The safest way to top up your Vitamin C levels is through your diet. Citrus fruits are well known for being rich in the vitamin, with berries, kiwis and green veg as other useful sources. However, tropical fruits are also a good bet for Vitamin C, particularly guavas, which have 4 times as much Vitamin C gram for gram as oranges do.

With some tropical fruits you can be left wondering what the best way to prepare them is. However, it's easy with a ripe guava, as you can eat the whole fruit; though if you prefer the skin can be peeled and cutting the fruit in half is the easiest way to remove the seeds. While the obvious choice for how to eat guava might be to chop it with pineapple and papaya to serve in a fruit salad, what else can you do with guava?

Like a lot of fruits with soft flesh, guavas can be combined with other fruits to make a smoothie. They can also be used in baking - there are lots of recipes on the internet for cakes and desserts. It's not just sweet dishes where guavas make an appearance; they work well as part of a savoury course too. For example, chunks of guava can be served in a salad with cheese, they can be threaded on skewers with vegetables or meat to barbeque, added to a curry or pureed and combined with seasonings to form a marinade for chicken, pork or fish. There's not really any limit to what they can be used for in cooking, so push the boundaries and be more adventurous in the kitchen.

If you're struggling for inspiration, take a peek at the following websites:
http://www.yummly.com/recipes/fresh-guava
http://www.food.com/recipe-finder/all?foodido=11828,12622,12623,13046,17210,17369,18254,19693

Photo by Fibonacci via Wikimedia Commons