Boost your teen’s brainpower at exam time with Zespri kiwifruit

Studying for exams sometimes means that healthy eating shoots down your teen’s list of priorities. It’s easy for them to get into the habit of quick food fixes, late nights and missed meals when they’ve got studying on their mind. However, good nutrition is critical to help them concentrate, absorb information and store it in their long-term memory.

Eating for exams

Teenage brains need the right nutrients to function properly, and studies have shown that vitamin C plays a key role in fighting fatigue and improving energy levels.¹ This is because vitamin C helps activate a number of enzymes in the body that increase the amount of energy we have¹ , as well as stimulate certain neurochemicals in the brain²– substances that affect our mind and mood.

Since the body cannot make or store vitamin C, it needs to be obtained through the diet on a daily basis. ¹ The best way to make sure your teen keeps their vitamin C levels topped up is through eating a diet rich in fruits and vegetables. However, this can be an issue for teens who skip meals, regularly snack on junk food or replace healthy meals with convenience food when they’re at school studying or in the library.

Zespri kiwifruit – bursting with vitamin C!

Luckily, it’s easy for your teen to get all the vitamin C they need in one go with Zespri kiwifruit. Just one Zespri Green and SunGold kiwifruit is enough to provide your teen with 100% of their daily vitamin C requirement³.

The high vitamin C content of kiwifruit has been shown to directly affect mood and energy – in fact, scientific studies have shown that eating kiwifruit daily decreases feelings of fatigue and increases physical and mental vitality.⁴

Smart snacking

Since the brain's fuel is glucose (sugar) in the bloodstream, it is important to make sure that your teen’s blood glucose levels do not dip too low while studying.⁵Zespri kiwifruit have the amazing ability to provide a quick boost of energy without causing a 'sugar rush', so your teen won’t end up feeling flat and low on energy shortly afterwards. This is because Zespri Green kiwifruit have a low glycaemic index (GI) of 39, which means that glucose (sugar) is taken up more slowly by the body, helping to keep your teen’s blood-sugar level stable.³

So next time you see your teen with their head in a book, hand them a Zespri kiwifruit to help them stay afloat when it comes to exam time!

Sources

1. National Institutes of Health. Vitamin C. Available at: https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminC-HealthProfessional/ (accessed 23 October 2016)
2. Harrison FE, May JM. Free Radic Biol Med 2009;46:719–30
3. USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 28 (2015).
4. Carr AC, Bozonet SM, Pullar JM, Vissers MC. Mood improvement in young adult males following supplementation of yellow kiwifruit, a high-vitamin C food. Journal of nutritional science 2013; 2:e24
5. European Food Information Council. Glucose and mental performance.