In mid-June 2025 Bangladesh's markets were full of mangoes, jamun, lychees, jackfruit, watermelons and melons. A Jagonews24 report of 16 June 2025 argued that these fruits give their real benefit only when eaten in season, ripened naturally on the tree; artificially ripened or stored fruit can do harm instead of good.
The World Health Organization agrees. Its healthy diet fact sheet (29 April 2020) says eating at least 400 g, or five portions, of fruit and vegetables a day reduces the risk of noncommunicable diseases and helps ensure enough dietary fibre. One way it suggests to eat more is choosing fresh fruit and vegetables that are in season.
What summer fruit provides
In hot weather the body loses water and minerals through sweat, the report noted. According to FoodData Central, the food composition database of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), 100 g of raw mango contains 83.46 g of water, 36.4 mg of vitamin C and 54 micrograms of vitamin A. The same amount of lychee contains 71.5 mg of vitamin C.
The Office of Dietary Supplements of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) says vitamin A is important for normal vision, the immune system, reproduction, and growth and development. Vitamin C is an antioxidant that helps protect cells, improves the absorption of iron from plant foods and helps the immune system work properly.
Of the other fruits, watermelon is 91% water. Jackfruit pulp is 74% water and provides about 95 kilocalories per 100 g, with fibre, vitamin B6, vitamin C and potassium. Jamun is 83% water and has a moderate content of vitamin C.
Why carbide-ripened fruit is a risk
The report warned that much early-season fruit is ripened with calcium carbide and other chemicals. On 18 May 2024 the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) warned traders about it; citing a Health Ministry statement, All India Radio reported that calcium carbide, commonly used to ripen mangoes, releases acetylene gas containing harmful traces of arsenic and phosphorus, which can cause dizziness, frequent thirst, irritation, weakness, difficulty in swallowing, vomiting and skin ulcers.
Carbide can leave residues on the fruit, and the gas is equally hazardous to those handling it, so India bans calcium carbide for ripening fruit under the Food Safety and Standards (Prohibition and Restrictions on Sales) Regulations, 2011, and permits ethylene gas as a safer alternative.
Picking mangoes by the calendar
Every fruit has its own peak season, the report said. For mangoes it is set locally: on 7 May 2025, The Daily Star reported, the Rajshahi district administration announced its harvest schedule: Guti mangoes from 15 May, Gopalbhog from 20 May, Himsagar and Khirsapat from 25 May, Langra from 30 May, Fazli from 10 June and Gouramoti from 15 July. Legal action was promised against violators.
The Department of Agricultural Extension expected 260,006 tonnes from the district that year. The report also pointed out that these fruits are grown by the country's own farmers, and mangoes and lychees from districts such as Rajshahi, Naogaon and Dinajpur reach Dhaka easily, so they need less transport and fewer preserving chemicals.
Care when eating
Seasonal fruit should still be eaten in moderation and washed well: the report warned that too much, unwashed or rotten fruit can cause vomiting, stomach problems or fever, and that children and older people need extra care.
Research has raised a particular caution about lychees and children. In The Lancet Global Health in 2017, Indian and U.S. CDC researchers reported that between May and July 2014, 390 children were admitted to hospital in Muzaffarpur, Bihar, India's largest lychee-growing region, with seizures or altered consciousness; 122 died. Eating lychees and missing an evening meal in the previous 24 hours were linked to the illness, which was associated with hypoglycin A and MCPG, natural fruit toxins that cause low blood sugar. The researchers advised eating fewer lychees there and making sure children ate an evening meal.
Photo: Mahinur11 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Sources: Jagonews24, World Health Organization (Healthy diet fact sheet, 2020), USDA FoodData Central, NIH Office of Dietary Supplements, All India Radio (FSSAI, 18 May 2024), The Daily Star (7 May 2025), The Lancet Global Health (Shrivastava et al., 2017), Wikipedia
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