How often do you stock up on the super fruit?

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March 10, 2011 – They say that an apple a day keep the doctor away? It surely does by all means, since the apple is full of vitamins and minerals that your body requires for healthy living. By eating the apple a day, your  activate your body to reduce the  risk of cancer particularly lung cancer, heart diseases, asthma and type 2 diabetes. There are 7,000 varieties of apple and all have varying contents of vitamin C and vitamin E which are powerful antioxidants that boost immunity and slow aging.

Health Benefits of Apples

An apple is a type of a prunus fruit, found primarily in the temperate zones. Apples contain an element called pectin, a soluble fiber that helps lower cholesterol, bind toxic metals such as mercury and lead, and excrete them out of the body. Do you know that cooked apples help relieve diarrhea, dysentery and colitis? Studies have shown that eating one large apple a day reduces serum cholesterol levels by eight to 11 per cent. Pectin in apples supplies galacturonic acid to the body which lowers the body’s need for insulin and helps manage diabetes. Pectin’s gelling property helps in making apple jams and jellies. Some more benefits;

• Apples contain Caffeic Acid, Ellagic Acid, Quercetin, Phloridzin and Chlorogenic Acid that help prevent cancer. A recent study reported that the risk of colorectal cancer was reduced by about 50 per cent on intake of more than one apple a day. The quercetin content has been shown to prevent Lung Cancer.

•  A recent study reported that combined apple pectins and polyphenols lowered cholesterol and triglycerides ( the fasts that cause heart attack ) by a much greater extent than either apple pectin or polyphenols.

• Apples and apple juice are rich in phytochemicals (plant chemicals) including flavanoids and polyphenols. Polyphenols such as tannins are potent enemies of viruses like the herpes simplex virus that causes blisters on the skin and sores around the mouth or genitals and inhibit Polio Viruses

• Apple juice consumed when retiring may alleviate Insomnia.

• Apples may help to prevent Asthma. A study done showed that people who consumed five or more Apples per week were found to have fewer obstructions in their air passages compared to people who did not eat Apples.

• Apples are good antioxidants. The antioxidant capacity of one apple is equivalent to about 1,500 mg of vitamin C (although one apple has only about five mg of vitamin C). The peels have more antioxidant compounds, especially polyphenols and vitamin C, than the flesh. A peel provides two to six times (depending on the variety) more phenolic compounds than the flesh, and about two to three times more flavanoids.

• Apples prevent stroke. Studies show that people with the highest consumption of apples had a lower risk of thrombotic stoke compared to the ones with the lowest consumption.

• Apples help check on your weight. They have a low low glycemic index (which means the carbohydrates break down slowly and release glucose gradually into the blood), apples dampen appetite, keep you going for longer, are low in calories and help maintain blood sugar levels. Apple cider vinegar, made by fermenting apple juice, has been used by some for curing hyper acidity, asthma, arthritis, sinustis and improving absorption of nutrients like calcium.

The best means of obtaining the health benefits of Apples is to include fresh Apples in the diet. Apple  extract is available in the form of: 70:1 powder standardized to contain 60% Polyphenols, >5% Phloridzin (from Apple skin).

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