Is hawthorn a fruit? What are its nutritional benefits, and what should it not be eaten with?

On the streets you often see strings of bright red candied hawthorn (bingtanghulu). It is not only a “captivating” treat for children, but even adults want a few sticks when they see it, and what is wrapped under that layer of sugar coating is precisely hawthorn. So, is hawthorn a fruit? Is its nutritional value high? What should it not be eaten with?

1. Is hawthorn a fruit?

Hawthorn is a drupe-type fruit. Its pit is hard, its flesh is thin, and its taste is slightly sour and astringent. The fruit can be eaten raw or made into preserved fruit or fruit cakes.

2. Is hawthorn's nutritional value high?

Hawthorn is rich in nutrients. After drying, it can be used as medicine. It is a tree species unique to China that serves as both medicine and fruit, with effects such as lowering blood lipids and blood pressure, strengthening the heart and resisting arrhythmia. It is also a good medicine for strengthening the spleen and stimulating the appetite, promoting digestion and resolving food stagnation, and invigorating the blood and resolving phlegm, with good therapeutic effects on conditions such as chest and diaphragm distension, hernia, blood stasis and amenorrhea. The flavonoid compound vitexin in hawthorn is a drug with relatively strong anti-cancer effects, and its extract has a certain effect on inhibiting the growth, proliferation and invasive metastasis of cancer cells in the body.

3. What should hawthorn not be eaten with?

1. Hawthorn should not be eaten with pork liver. Hawthorn is rich in vitamin C, while pork liver contains metal trace elements such as copper, iron and zinc. Eating the two together causes the vitamin C to be oxidized and destroyed more quickly, reducing the nutritional value, so hawthorn and pork liver should not be eaten together.

2. Hawthorn should not be eaten with fruits and vegetables that contain vitamin C decomposing enzymes. Cucumber, pumpkin, carrot and other fruits and vegetables all contain vitamin C decomposing enzymes. Eating them with hawthorn will destroy and break down the vitamin C in hawthorn, reducing the nutritional value, so they should not be eaten together.

3. Hawthorn should not be eaten with seafood. Seafood all contains rich minerals such as calcium, iron, carbon and iodine as well as protein, while hawthorn contains tannic acid. If eaten with seafood, it will form tannic acid protein, and this substance can cause constipation and trigger symptoms such as nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain, so they should not be eaten together.

4. Hawthorn is incompatible with vitamin K3. Vitamin K3 is a hemostatic drug, while hawthorn is a blood-invigorating drug, and the vitamin C it contains is not conducive to the hemostatic effect of vitamin K3.

5. Children in the stage of changing teeth should not eat too much hawthorn, as it will damage the teeth and have an adverse effect on the growth and development of children's teeth.

6. Hawthorn has the effect of promoting uterine contraction in women. Pregnant women who eat too much hawthorn may trigger miscarriage, so it should not be eaten in large amounts.