green kiwifruit

Actinidia deliciosa, the green kiwifruit, which this library uses as a dose. One recipe calls for it, the two-kiwi smoothie: 150 grams, two fruit, peeled with the ends trimmed, frozen if you like it thick, then blended with cucumber, yogurt, ginger, mint and 60 ml of cold water until the seeds are flecks. The sourness is citric acid with quinic and malic beside it, sharp enough that the blend needs no lemon and, most days, no sweetener. Green kiwifruit carries about 93 mg of vitamin C per 100 grams, so the two fruit bring roughly 140 mg, more than a large orange.

The dose comes from three trials in the Journal's note on bloating. A 2023 international trial gave 63 healthy people, 60 with functional constipation and 61 with constipation-type IBS either two green kiwifruit a day or 7.5 grams of psyllium for four weeks, then swapped them; the fruit added 1.5 to 1.7 complete bowel movements a week in the two constipated groups. In a 2007 Hong Kong trial complete movements doubled, from 2.2 to 4.4 a week, in 33 constipated patients, with no change in 20 healthy volunteers. A 2010 Taiwanese trial put 41 people with constipation-type IBS on two Hayward kiwifruit a day and found more movements and shorter colon transit than in 13 on placebo capsules. All three fed the whole fruit, so nobody can say whether fibre, the actinidin enzyme or something else did the work.

Monash lists kiwifruit as low FODMAP, with two small fruit making up its 150 gram serve. The recipe puts the reason in the sugar: about 9 g per 100 g, balanced by glucose, where it is fructose in excess of glucose that goes unabsorbed. Its cautions are plain. If you already run loose, halve the dose, and because kiwifruit is a common food allergen, stop if your mouth itches at the first sip.