Would you like to find out the answer to the question “how many calories are in grapes”? If so, stay here – in this article you’ll get to know the answer to this question.
We’ll teach you how to easily estimate calories in grapes (both purple and green) and estimate important nutrients found in grapes.
Furthermore, you’ll learn much more about these delicious fruits:
We’ll share with you grapes nutrition facts and useful information about nutritional value of grapes.
Moreover, we’ll give you 5 great health reasons to eat grapes and we’ll answer the popular question of dieters: “are grapes fattening?”.
Without further ado, let’s answer the most important question first:
How Many Calories Are In Grapes?
To answer the question “how many calories are in grapes?” you have to weigh the amount that you want to eat. Or if you want only estimates, all you need to know is that one cup of grapes weighs approximately 100 grams (0.22 lbs). Here are general numbers for a cup (100 grams) of grapes:
Nutritional value per 100 g of grapes
Energy: 288 kJ (69 kcal)
Carbohydrates: 18.1 g
- Sugars 15.48 g
- Dietary fiber 0.9 g
Fat: 0.0 g
Protein: 0.72 g
As you can see, grapes aren’t high in calories. You can safely eat up to two cups of grapes a day and it shouldn’t make you fat (quite contrary – substances found in grapes can help you lose weight). For most people, 130 calories is only about 5% of recommended daily calorie intake. It’s really hard to overeat grapes.
Keep in mind that dried grapes, raisins, are more caloric than normal grapes. 100 grams of raisins provides about 299 calories – and that’s a lot! Eating grapes on a daily basis is perfectly safe, eating raisins is not. Now that you know about calories in grapes, it’s time to read about other nutrients that you can find in grapes.
Grapes Nutrition Facts
What about nutrients such as carbohydrates, protein, vitamins and minerals? Here are most important grapes nutrition facts. Let’s start with macronutrients:
Macronutrients (carbohydrates, fat, protein)
As mentioned before, one cup of grapes weighs approximately 100 grams and has 69 calories. This provides:
Carbohydrates: 18.1 g
- Sugars 15.48 g
- Dietary fiber 0.9 g
Fat: 0.0 g
Protein: 0.72 g
Amount of protein in grapes is negligible and fruits in general aren’t a good source of protein. However, grapes, like many other fruits, are high in carbohydrates. When and why should you eat carbohydrates? Although carbohydrates aren’t necessary for your survival, they play many important roles in your body. Here are three of them:
- Your brain – your brain needs glucose (a simple sugar which is found in grapes) to function. It can switch its primary fuel to ketones (when you’re in ketosis), but its preferred fuel is still glucose.
- Energy – eating carbohydrate-rich foods is the quickest way to boost your energy levels. Simple sugars (found in grapes) are especially useful for an instant energy boost.
- Muscles – if you want to develop more muscle mass, you should eat many carbohydrates after your workout.
Grapes also contain dietary fiber. Check our article “Do Grapes Have Fiber?” to read about dietary fiber in grapes.
Micronutrients (minerals, vitamins, phytochemicals, antioxidants)
You should not only ask “how many calories are in grapes?”, but also ask about their nutritional value. Grapes provide many minerals and vitamins which are essential for humans. Grapes are a good source of:
- Vitamin K (21% of recommended daily intake in 100 grams of grapes). Vitamin K is necessary to your bone health. It’s also responsible for initiating the process of healing by slowing and stopping the bleeding.
- Vitamin C (13% of recommended daily intake in 100 grams of grapes). Vitamin C is essential to your immune system. Vitamin C is also an antioxidant which protects against cancer.
- Vitamin B6 (7% of recommended daily intake in 100 grams of grapes). Vitamin B6 is one of the most important vitamins, responsible for the breakdown of food by the body and proper functioning of the nervous system and the immune system.
- Riboflavin (vitamin B2) (6% of recommended daily intake in 100 grams of grapes). Vitamin B2 produces energy and helps your body produce red blood cells.
- Thiamine (vitamin B1) (6% of recommended daily intake in 100 grams of grapes). Vitamin B1 is responsible for converting sugar into energy. It also improves brain function, ensure eye health and has cardiovascular functions.
Moreover, grapes are rich in phytonutrients such as resveratrol which has been positively linked to inhibiting any cancer, heart disease and degenerative nerve disease. Eating grapes on a daily basis will help you provide your body with many essential nutrients.
If you want to know more about health benefits of grapes, keep reading – we talk about them in more detail now.
Health Benefits of Grapes
Why should you eat grapes? Besides for great flavor, grapes are one of the healthiest fruits. They can significantly improve your health and possibly even extend your lifespan. Here are the most important health benefits of grapes:
1. Cardiovascular benefits
One of the most famous health benefits of grapes are cardiovascular benefits. Grapes are rich in antioxidants which can reduce blood pressure, lower you “bad” LDL cholesterol levels, lower your triglycerides and prevent blood clots. What’s more, resveratrol was found to protect against arterial wall damage.
2. Protection against cancers
Grapes contain high levels of substances which reduce the risk of cancers such as caffeic acid, bioflavonoids and mentioned before resveratrol. Grapes are unquestionably one of the best cancer-fighting and cancer-preventing fruits.
3. Aging process
According to studies, resveratrol influences the aging process. It can supposedly significantly slow down the aging process and extend your lifespan. Moreover, substances found in grapes can help you maintain good health even in old age. Resveratrol can also enhance brain health and lower the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.
4. Obesity
Scientists have discovered that resveratrol found in grapes stimulates an important fat regulating hormone known as adiponectin that is linked to obesity. Obese individuals have lower levels of adiponectin. Adiponectin stimulates appetite and helps control blood sugar levels. Remember that obesity is the main cause of many dangerous and chronic diseases. Higher levels of adiponectin could lower your risk for type 2 diabetes, heart disease and even cancer.
5. Blood sugar benefits
Grapes are classified as a low glycemic index (GI) food. Consumption of grapes leads to better blood sugar balance, better insulin regulation, and increased insulin sensitivity. All of these things can reduce your risk of diabetes.
Read our article “Health Benefits of Grapes” to learn more about this topic.
Are Grapes Fattening?
Many dieters confused by the popularity of low-carbohydrate diets ask themselves the question: “are grapes fattening?”. Proponents of low-carb diets claim that carbohydrates are responsible for making us fat. Is it true? Not at all. Carbohydrates can make you fat only if you eat them in excess.
You’ll gain weight if you keep providing more calories than you burn. It’s very easy to overeat if you eat sweets such as chocolate or fast food such as French fries etc. It’s very difficult to overeat fruits such as grapes. One cup of grapes provides only 2-3% of your daily calorie requirements.
Even if you’re on a diet, you can still keep eating grapes on a daily basis. In fact, eating grapes can even help you lose weight because of resveratrol which was found to stimulate a fat regulating hormone called adiponectin.
If you want to learn more about this topic, check our article “Are Grapes Fattening?”.
As you can see, grapes are very healthy and you should definitely eat them on a regular basis. We hope that our answer to your question “how many calories are in grapes” was useful to you!