Apples
Channel: Nutrient Miracles
Date: 17/04/2023

Benefits of Apples. An Apple a Day? Really? No Way! How about them Apples. 

Welcome to our channel, thank you for visiting, we appreciate your input, please leave us a comment or a question below. Today we answer the question, what makes apples special, and their nutrient benefits.

Based upon numerous epidemiological studies, it appears that apples may play a large role in reducing the risk of a wide variety of chronic disease and maintaining a healthy lifestyle in general. 

Of the papers reviewed, apples were most consistently associated with reduced risk of cancer, heart disease, asthma, and type II diabetes when compared to other fruits and vegetables and other sources of flavonoids. 

Apple consumption was also positively associated with increased lung function and increased weight loss. There is increasing research using animal and in vitro models that attempts to more clearly explain these health benefits.

The animal studies and in vitro work begin to define mechanisms by which apples may help prevent chronic disease. 

First, the strong antioxidant activity of apples may help prevent lipid and DNA oxidation. Cancer cell culture work has demonstrated that apples inhibit cell proliferation in vitro, which may contribute to the association of apple intake with decreased cancer risk. 


Apples significantly lowered lipid oxidation both in humans and rats and lowered cholesterol in humans. These effects, which may be attributed to both the phenolics and the dietary fiber found in apples, may partially explain the inverse association of apple intake and risk of cardiovascular disease.

Apples contain a large concentration of flavonoids, as well as a variety of other phytochemicals, and the concentration of these phytochemicals may depend on many factors, such as cultivar of the apple, harvest and storage of the apples, and processing of the apples. 

The concentration of phytochemicals also varies greatly between the apple peels and the apple flesh.

Because the apple peels contain more antioxidant compounds, especially quercetin, apple peels may have higher antioxidant activity and higher bioactivity than the apple flesh. 

Research showed that apples without the peels had less antioxidant activity than apples with the peels. Apples with the peels were also better able to inhibit cancer cell proliferation when compared to apples without the peels. 

More recent work has shown that apple peels contain anywhere from two to six times (depending on the variety) more phenolic compounds than in the flesh, and two to three times more flavonoids in the peels when compared to the flesh. 

The antioxidant activity of these peels was also much greater, ranging from two to six times greater in the peels when compared to the flesh, depending on the variety of the apple.

Both animal and cell culture studies show that there is an association between the polyphenolic compounds found within apples and a wide variety of effects that may help prevent chronic disease. 
This supports the hypothesis that it is the phytochemicals found in fruits, especially apples, that impart healthy benefits. 

More research is still needed to clarify the effects of these compounds in vivo. 

In order to examine the effects of these compounds in vivo, it is necessary to understand the bioavailability of the specific compounds, and the bioavailability of these compounds within the fruit matrix.

As the link between diet and chronic disease grows stronger, many are working to understand how phytochemicals may provide health benefits. 

Out of 10 varieties commonly consumed in the US, Fuji apples had the highest total phenolic and total flavonoid compounds.

Red Delicious apples were also quite high, and the apples containing the lowest amounts of phenolics and flavonoids were the Empire apples and the NY647 apple. 

Antioxidant activity of apples also differs between different varieties, and was positively associated with the level of total phenolic content. The apple varieties with the higher phenolics tended to have higher antioxidant activity.

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References:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC442131/
http://www.easternsrx.com/miracle-fruits-health-benefits-apples

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