benefits of apples

National Health Service says that a diet high in fiber can help prevent the development of certain diseases and may help prevent the amount of bad cholesterol in your blood from rising.

Apples are rich in polyphenolic compounds. These phytonutrients help protect the body from the detrimental effects of free radicals. Apples deserve to be called nutritional powerhouses. They contain the following important nutrients:

Apples belong to the Rose family of plants and are joined in that family by a wide range of very popular foods, including apricots, plums, cherries, peaches, pears, raspberries, and almonds. Foods in the Rose family are simply too diverse in their nutrient value to allow for any one single recommendation about the number of servings that we should consume from this family on a weekly basis. However, when focusing specifically on apples, several anticancer studies show daily intake of this fruit to provide better anticancer benefits than lesser amounts.

In terms of flavonols, quercetin is the primary phytonutrient found in apples, and its far more concentrated in the skin than in the pulp. Kaempferol and myricetin are also important apple flavonols. Chlorogenic acid is apples primary phenolic acid, and its found throughout the pulp and also in the skin. If apples are red, its because of their anthocyanins, which are largely restricted to the skin.

The cardiovascular benefits of apples are welldocumented in research studies, and they are closely associated with two aspects of apple nutrients: their watersoluble fiber (pectin) content, and their unusual mix of polyphenols. Total cholesterol and LDLcholesterol are both decreased through regular intake of apples.

This area of research on apple benefits is relatively new, but its already awakening the interest of an increasing number of food scientists. At many different levels, the polyphenols in apples are clearly capable of influencing our digestion and absorption of carbohydrates, and the overall impact of these changes is to improve regulation of our blood sugar.

Apples act to inhibit carbohydratedigesting enzymes like alphaamylase and alphaglucosidase. When these enzymes are inhibited, carbohydrates are broken down less readily into simple sugars, and less load is placed on our bloodstream to accommodate more sugar.

Polyphenols in apples clearly lower the rate of glucose absorption from our digestive tract. Once again, this change lessens the sugar load on our bloodstream. apples are a much better nutritional choice than apple juice. Not only are whole apples richer in dietary fiber, but the current processes of juicing seem to drastically reduce the polyphenolic phytonutrient concentrations originally found in the whole fruit.

Like the lung cancer benefits of apples, the antiasthma benefits have been somewhat surprising to health researchers. Multiple studies have shown apple intake to be associated with decreased risk of asthma.

Health benefits of apples have also been established for several agerelated health problems, including macular degeneration of the eye and neurodegenerative problems, including Alzheimers disease. In animal studies, prevention of bone loss has also been an area of investigation, particularly related to the phloridizin content of apples.