A European pear is picked hard and finishes ripening off the tree, and it ripens from the inside out. That is why the advice is to press gently near the stem, not the body: when the neck gives, the pear is ready, and if the middle already feels soft it is probably overripe. Of the common varieties, only Bartlett turns from green to yellow, while Anjou, Bosc and Comice barely change color.
The gritty bits in a pear are stone cells, hard cells with thick, lignified walls that sit mostly near the core. A genome study of 113 pear accessions linked stone cells to the traits that differ between Asian and European pears.
Pears also carry more fructose than glucose, and they contain sorbitol, a sugar alcohol. A medium pear has about 11.4 g of fructose against 4.6 g of glucose, and Monash University names fructose and sorbitol as the main FODMAPs in pears. In one trial, pear juice, which has about 2% sorbitol, was not fully absorbed by most young children. Few trials have tested pears on their own, and many large studies group apples and pears, so each card below says which it is.
Health benefits of pears
The top findings from 20 studies, strongest evidence first
What the stars mean
- Strong. Several randomized trials, pooled in a meta-analysis, point the same way, or regulators (FDA or EFSA) have approved the claim.
- Moderate. Good randomized trials support it, but there are fewer of them, or their results vary.
- Limited. Small, short or single trials, or mixed results. Promising, but it needs confirmation.
Population and lab studies get no stars: they show a link or a mechanism, not proof.
How we rate evidence →- ★A little weight loss in one small trialOverweight women who added three pears a day for 10 weeks lost 0.84 kg. Women who added oat cookies did not lose weight.
- ★Lower pulse pressure in metabolic syndromeTwo pears a day for 12 weeks lowered pulse pressure (the gap between the top and bottom blood pressure numbers) and waist-to-hip ratio. The top number only tended to fall (from 134 to 130 mm Hg).
- ★Smaller blood sugar peak after a rice mealIn healthy women, eating a pear 30 minutes before rice lowered the peak in blood sugar. Apple and orange did too, and apple did so most.
- ★Pear juice poorly absorbed by many young childrenIn children aged about 1, 3 and 5, 84% did not fully absorb a serving of pear juice, against 41% for apple juice. Six children had diarrhea, and this tested juice, not whole pears.
- Population studyLinked to lower risk of type 2 diabetesPeople who ate more apples and pears had a lower risk of type 2 diabetes (18% lower across five studies combined). Apples and pears were counted together, and this cannot prove cause.
All 20 studies, strongest evidence first
A review of 22 studies of apples and pears found that eating apples lowered BMI in trials, while weight, cholesterol, blood sugar and blood pressure did not change
Systematic review and meta-analysis of 7 randomized trials, 1 nonrandomized trial and 14 prospective observational studies. The trial effects it reports are for apples, so they do not show what pears do. In the observational studies, apple or pear intake went with a lower risk of cerebrovascular disease, cardiovascular death, type 2 diabetes and death from any cause, but not of cerebral infarction or intracerebral hemorrhage.
Two pears a day for 12 weeks lowered pulse pressure and waist-to-hip ratio in adults with metabolic syndrome, but systolic blood pressure only tended to fall
Randomized, open-label crossover trial in 40 adults aged 45 to 65, who ate two medium pears a day or drank a calorie-matched drink for 12 weeks each, with a 4-week break between. Systolic pressure, the main outcome, fell from 134 to 130 mm Hg, which was only a trend (P = 0.07). Leptin and waist size also fell, but the changes were small and the trial was not blinded.
Adding three pears a day for 10 weeks went with a 0.84 kg weight loss in overweight women, while weight did not change on oat cookies
Randomized trial in 49 women with a body mass index above 25, who added three apples, three pears or three oat cookies to their usual diet. Pears and apples have a low energy density (0.64 and 0.63 kcal per gram) compared with the cookies (3.7). The authors credit that low energy density for the lower calorie intake, not the fiber, which was similar. It was a small trial run in one primary care unit in Rio de Janeiro.
A single serving of pear juice was not fully absorbed by 84% of young children, against 41% for apple juice and 20 to 24% for grape juice
Randomized trial in 104 healthy children of about 1, 3 and 5 years, each given one juice and then tested for breath hydrogen, a sign that sugar reached the gut bacteria. Pear juice has a large amount of sorbitol and more fructose than glucose. The gap was clear in the 1- and 3-year-olds and not in the 5-year-olds, and parents reported diarrhea in six children after pear juice. This tested juice, not whole pears.
Eating pears during a 75 km bike ride made 20 cyclists 3.3% faster than water, but the difference was not statistically significant
Randomized crossover trial in 20 male athletes who cycled 75 km while taking in water, bananas or pears, at 0.6 g of carbohydrate per kilogram of body weight each hour. Bananas gave a 5.0% faster time (P = 0.018) and pears 3.3% (P = 0.091). The blood metabolites, mostly fat-related, that jumped during the water ride rose 52% less with pears. Funded by Dole Food Company.
An unripe-pear extract taken for 12 weeks did not beat placebo on body fat, weight or BMI in adults with obesity, though it lowered a liver enzyme more
Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of a supplement made from unripe Korean pear (Pyrus pyrifolia) in Korean adults with obesity. Weight did fall by 1.28 kg from the starting point on the extract, but the two groups did not differ significantly. An extract is not the fruit. The extract’s maker provided it, and three authors work for that company.
Korean pear juice drunk before alcohol lowered hangover severity in 14 young men
Single-blind randomized crossover trial in 14 healthy young men, who drank 540 mL of spirits 30 minutes after pear juice or a placebo. Blood alcohol was lower with the juice, and some symptoms improved only in people with certain versions of the ALDH2 gene. It used Korean pear (Pyrus pyrifolia), not the European pear, and it was very small.
A Korean pear extract taken for 4 weeks raised the share of gut Bifidobacterium and Eubacterium in 20 people with mild asthma, but it only somewhat lowered markers of air pollution exposure
Randomized, double-blind trial in people with mild asthma living in Seoul, who took 3 mL a day of pear extract or a placebo. The drop in the inflammatory signals IgE, IL-4, IL-5 and IL-13 was seen in asthma mice, not in the people. This was a concentrated extract, not the whole fruit.
In 15 people allergic to birch pollen, 12 reacted to one pear variety and 14 to another in a food challenge
Single-blind oral challenge with the Cepuna and Conference pears in patients with birch pollen allergy and a history of pear allergy. Objective symptoms were milder with Cepuna (2 people) than with Conference (7 people), though the difference was not statistically significant. The trial was small and tested people already known to react, so it does not show how common pear allergy is.
Eating a pear before a rice meal lowered the blood sugar peak in healthy women, as apple and orange preloads did too
Meal tests in healthy women comparing 15 g of fruit carbohydrate from orange, apple or pear, eaten 30 minutes before rice, with water before the same meal. Every fruit preload lowered the peak and the swings in blood glucose, and apple did so most. Reported fullness was similar. These were single meals, not long-term trials.
In 61 people with type 2 diabetes, pears had a glycemic index of 60, no different from apples, oranges or other common fruits
Eight fruits were tested, each in its own randomized group: pears 60, apples 63, oranges 68, grapes 70, plums 75, peaches 80, apricots 82 and bananas 83. The differences were not statistically significant. Glycemic index values depend on the method and the people tested, and this study was in people who already have diabetes.
Five cohort studies of apples and pears together linked eating them to an 18% lower risk of type 2 diabetes
Meta-analysis of 5 prospective cohorts with 228,315 people and 14,120 cases of type 2 diabetes. Each extra serving a week of apples and pears went with a 3% lower risk. Apples and pears were pooled, so this is not about pears alone, and cohort studies cannot prove cause.
In three large US cohorts, every 3 servings a week of apples and pears went with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes (hazard ratio 0.93)
Prospective study of health professionals: 66,105 women, 85,104 women and 36,173 men. The pooled hazard ratio was 0.93 (0.90 to 0.96) for apples and pears, compared with 0.74 for blueberries, while fruit juice went with a higher risk (1.08). Apples and pears were one food group in the questionnaire.
Adding a daily serving of apples or pears went with 1.24 lb less weight gain over 4 years in three US cohorts
Study of 133,468 US men and women followed for up to 24 years, comparing changes in intake of each fruit with weight change over 4-year periods, adjusting for other lifestyle changes. Berries went with 1.11 lb less and total fruit with 0.53 lb less. The authors say residual confounding cannot be ruled out, and apples and pears were pooled.
Swedish adults who ate the most apples and pears had a lower risk of stroke than those who ate the least (relative risk 0.89)
Cohort of 74,961 women and men followed for 10.2 years, with 4,089 strokes. Apples and pears were one food group, and green leafy vegetables also showed a link. Food questionnaires and the other habits of fruit eaters limit what this can show.
In a Dutch cohort, white fruits and vegetables, mostly apples and pears, went with about half the stroke risk in the top fourth of eaters
Study of 20,069 adults followed for 10 years, with 233 strokes. Apples and pears made up 55% of the white fruit and vegetable group, which has other foods in it. The highest against the lowest intake had a hazard ratio of 0.48, and each extra 25 g a day went with a 9% lower risk. Because the group mixes foods, it cannot isolate pears.
Pear extract lowered weight gain and improved blood sugar control in obese mice, and a compound called malaxinic acid seemed to be responsible
Study in mice, not people. Mice ate a high-fat diet for 6 weeks, then got pear extract or a vehicle for 5 weeks. The extract also improved insulin resistance and lowered inflammation in fat tissue. Mouse doses of an extract cannot be compared with eating pears.
Pear peel polyphenols eased colitis in mice and shifted their gut bacteria toward Akkermansia
Lab study in immune cells and mice. The peel extract lowered inflammatory signals in cells and, in mice with chemically induced colitis, reduced symptoms and damage to the colon. It also raised Akkermansia and lowered Bacteroides. There are no human data.
A compound from concentrated pear juice cut coughing in mice, and at a high dose it worked better than a standard cough medicine
Study in mice. LIGAO, a concentrated pear juice used in China for more than 1000 years against cough, contains a compound called Fru-Asp. At 250 mg per kilogram it did better than dextromethorphan at 30 mg per kilogram and eased lung inflammation, with two inflammation markers down by 11%. There was no trial in people.
In a lab model of the human gut, a pear cultivar raised butyrate production and a butyrate-making bacterium
Five apple and two pear cultivars from New Zealand were digested and fermented with human stool bacteria in the lab for 18 hours. Results differed by cultivar and by fruit type. This was a test-tube study, and the authors work for the research institute that funded it.
Who should be careful with pears
Most people can eat pears freely. Take a little care if one of these applies:
- Irritable bowel syndrome or a sensitive gut. Monash University lists pears among high-FODMAP fruits, and the main FODMAPs in pears are fructose and sorbitol. A medium pear has about 11.4 g of fructose against 4.6 g of glucose, and sorbitol pulls water into the bowel, so a smaller portion is the safer start.
- Birch pollen allergy. In a challenge trial, 12 of 15 birch-pollen-allergic patients reacted to one pear variety and 14 to another. If raw pears bring on symptoms, ask an allergist.
- Pear juice for toddlers. In a trial of 104 children, pear juice was incompletely absorbed by 84%, and it was linked to diarrhea in six. This was about juice, not whole fruit, and the problem was clear in the 1- and 3-year-olds but not at age 5.
How to choose, store and eat pears
- Fresh, with the peel: a medium pear (178 g) has 101 calories and 5.5 g of fiber, 20% of the daily value, and the polyphenols tested in the mouse colitis study were from the peel.
- Before a meal: 15 g of carbohydrate from pear, eaten 30 minutes before rice, lowered the blood sugar peak in healthy women.
- Juice: pear juice has a large amount of sorbitol, and in three US cohorts fruit juice went with a higher diabetes risk (1.08) while apples and pears went with a lower one (0.93).
Pears ripen from the inside out, so press gently near the stem and eat the pear when the neck gives. Let firm pears ripen on the counter, then keep ripe ones in the fridge for 3 to 5 days; only Bartletts turn from green to yellow. Residues are no reason to skip pears: in USDA tests of 708 fresh pear samples in 2022, 36.5% had no detectable pesticide and none was over a legal limit.
Sources
- High and low FODMAP foods. Monash FODMAP.
- What are polyols. Monash FODMAP blog.
- de Jong NW, Terlouw S, van Boven FE, et al. Birch pollen related pear allergy: a single-blind oral challenge trial with 2 pear cultivars. Nutrients. 2021.
- Nobigrot T, Chasalow FI, Lifshitz F. Carbohydrate absorption from one serving of fruit juice in young children: age and carbohydrate composition effects. J Am Coll Nutr. 1997.
- Ament ME. Malabsorption of apple juice and pear nectar in infants and children: clinical implications. J Am Coll Nutr. 1996.
- Ye Y, Jiang X, Jiang Y, et al. Pear peel polyphenols protect against ulcerative colitis via coordinated modulation of gut microbiota and mucosal immunity. Food Funct. 2026.
- Lu X, et al. Both isocarbohydrate and hypercarbohydrate fruit preloads curbed postprandial glycemic excursion in healthy subjects. Nutrients. 2021.
- Muraki I, Imamura F, Manson JE, et al. Fruit consumption and risk of type 2 diabetes: results from three prospective longitudinal cohort studies. BMJ. 2013.
- General questions: pear ripening. USA Pears.
- Pears, raw (FDC 169118). USDA FoodData Central.
- Pesticide Data Program annual summary, calendar year 2022. USDA Agricultural Marketing Service.
History of pears
Pears are old. A genome study of 113 wild and cultivated pear accessions proposes that the pear began in southwest China, then spread through central and western Asia to Europe, and that Asian and European pears were domesticated separately. Wikipedia notes that pears were cultivated in China as early as 2000 BC.
The Romans grew pears and brought them to Britain, and Pliny’s Natural History noted three dozen varieties. Court accounts of Henry III of England, who reigned from 1216 to 1272, record pears shipped from La Rochelle and presented to the king by the sheriffs of London. Carl Linnaeus described the genus Pyrus in 1753.
The Bartlett pear began as an English pear. It is thought to date from 1765 to 1770, from the yard of a schoolmaster named John Stair in Aldermaston, and a nurseryman named Williams spread it, so it became the Williams pear. James Carter imported trees to Roxbury, Massachusetts in 1799, and Enoch Bartlett of Dorchester later took over the estate and sent the pears out under his own name, not knowing their true one. Growers did not realize that Bartlett and Williams were the same pear until 1828.
Bartlett long ruled American orchards as the canning pear. Wikipedia reports its share of US pear production fell from 80% in 1985 to 50% in 2004 as d’Anjou and Bosc grew. In China, a concentrated pear juice called LIGAO has been used for more than 1000 years against cough, and the mouse study above looked at one of its compounds.
Pears can also be fermented. Perry is fermented pear juice, made much as cider is made from apples. Wikipedia reports world pear production of about 27.6 million tonnes in 2024, with China growing 76% of it.
Sources
- Wu J, Wang Y, Xu J, et al. Diversification and independent domestication of Asian and European pears. Genome Biol. 2018.
- Gong X, Qi K, Chen J, et al. Multi-omics analyses reveal stone cell distribution pattern in pear fruit. Plant J. 2023.
- Hyams JS, Etienne NL, Leichtner AM, Theuer RC. Carbohydrate malabsorption following fruit juice ingestion in young children. Pediatrics. 1988.
- Li C, Yang C, Zhang J, Zhang L. Formation of Amadori compounds in LIGAO (concentrated pear juice) processing and the effects of Fru-Asp on cough relief and lung moisturization in mice. Food Funct. 2022.
- Pear. Wikipedia.
- Williams pear. Wikipedia.
Frequently asked questions about pears
Are pears good for you?
For most people, yes. A medium pear (178 g) has 101 calories, 5.5 g of fiber and 16% of the daily value for copper. No pear finding here reaches strong evidence, but cohort studies link apples and pears together to lower risks, including an 18% lower risk of type 2 diabetes in a pooled analysis of 5 cohorts. Those are links, not proof, and they do not separate pears from apples.
Are pears good for weight loss?
They may help, but the evidence is small. In a trial of 49 overweight women, adding three pears a day for 10 weeks went with a 0.84 kg weight loss, while weight did not change on oat cookies. Raw pears have 57 calories and 3.1 g of fiber per 100 g, so they are filling for the calories. In US cohorts, a daily serving of apples or pears went with 1.24 lb less weight gain over 4 years.
Can people with diabetes eat pears?
Usually yes in sensible portions, and the evidence leans reassuring. A medium pear has 17.4 g of sugars, mostly fructose. In 61 people with type 2 diabetes, pears had a glycemic index of 60, no different from other fruits, and a pear before a rice meal lowered the blood sugar peak in healthy women. Check portions and timing with your care team.
Are pears good for constipation?
No trial here tested pears for constipation, so it is a plausible idea, not a proven one. A pear has 3.1 g of fiber per 100 g and contains sorbitol, which Monash says pulls water into the bowel. That is also why pear juice loosened stools in some toddlers, with diarrhea in six of 104 children.
Do pears cause gas or bloating?
They can in some people. Monash University lists pears as high in FODMAPs, with fructose and sorbitol as the main ones, and a medium pear has about 11.4 g of fructose against 4.6 g of glucose. No trial here measured gas from whole pears. If pears bother you, try a smaller piece and see how you feel.
Are pears high in sugar?
Moderately. A medium pear has 17.4 g of sugars and 101 calories, and raw pears have about 9.75 g of sugars per 100 g. Most of that is fructose, with less glucose and little sucrose. A medium pear also has 5.5 g of fiber.
Should you eat the skin of a pear?
Eating it is fine if you like it. The only study here on peel was in cells and mice, where peel polyphenols eased colitis, so no human benefit is shown. In USDA tests of 708 fresh pear samples in 2022, 36.5% had no detectable pesticide and none was over a legal limit, and a rinse before eating is sensible.
Are pears good for blood pressure and the heart?
The evidence is thin. In 40 adults with metabolic syndrome, two pears a day for 12 weeks lowered systolic pressure from 134 to 130 mm Hg, which was only a trend (P = 0.07), and lowered pulse pressure. In a review of trials, apples lowered BMI but blood pressure and cholesterol did not change, and cohorts link apples and pears to a lower stroke risk (relative risk 0.89 in Sweden).