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Apples have an extremely high antioxidant content

Move over green tea! Not only do apples taste better, ‘apples have almost four times as much antioxidants than green tea’.  The graph below shows that apples have the highest antioxidant content of Australia’s most popular fruits, ten times the antioxidant power of goji berry juice, and more antioxidants than a 1500mg mega dose of vitamin C.

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For those who don’t know, antioxidants help neutralise free-radicals, i.e. the compounds that are produced by stress, pollution, smoking and other environmental hazards.  These free-radicals can lead to ‘early aging and also degenerative diseases including cancer, heart disease, and neurological degeneration such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease’.  Although the human body has its own protection against free radicals, a vital second line of defence involves dietary antioxidants.

Apples skin may reduce cancer risk

‘An analysis of the Nurses Health study and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study, revealed that women who consumed at least one apple serving a day reduced the risk of lung cancer’.

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‘Another case control study in Hawaii also found that apple intake (along with onions and white grapefruit) reduced lung cancer risk in adults by 40-50%.  More recent European research as indicated that eating an apple a day or more was linked to a reduced incidence for different cancers including oral, larynx, esophageal, breast, ovary, prostate and colorectal.’

Apples reduce the risk of Cardiovascular disease

‘A new study of more than 34,000 women has shown flavonoid rich apples are one of three foods (including pears and red wine) that decrease the risk of death from coronary heart disease and cardiovascular disease amongst older women. Flavonoid intake was also strongly linked to a decrease in deaths from heart disease in elderly men in the Zutphen Elderly Study in 1933, where apples accounted for 10% of the flavonoid intake’.

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Apples can improve lung function and help reduce the risk of Asthma

‘A number of studies have consistently linked apples to asthma protection and improved lung function.  Studies also show that mothers who eat apples during pregnancy may protect their children from developing asthma later in life’.

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Apples aiding weight loss

Obesity and diabetes are rapidly becoming the most important health issues in the developed world.  Apples have proven to help reduce diabetes and obesity.  Three apples a day (one before a meal) may just be an ideal dietary supplement to aid weight loss and improve overall health too.

A study published in the journal of the American Collage of Nutrition found a significant 28% reduction in risk for Type II Diabetes associated with eating an apple a day’.

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Remember to eat the apple skin!

‘Researchers have found a dozen different compounds in apple skin alone that have the capacity to slow the growth or even kill cancer cells.  Studies involved taking extracts of the apple peel and adding them to various types of cancer cells in the laboratory and measuring the impact.

Apple peel extracts certainly have the ability to limit the growth of cancer cells – and in some cases actually lead to the death of cancer cells and while that doesn’t mean these compounds would have this effect in the body, there is real potential.  Research suggests that components in apples may even have a role in cancer therapy as well as in the removal of potentially cancerous cells – meaning they may play both a therapeutic and a preventative role of cancer’.

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So remember! Next time you want a quick snack, reach for an apple!

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For more fun apple facts, check out oneadaysuperfood.com.au, or download the full apple report here.