The Benefits of Eating Apples

Apples are packed with disease-fighting vitamins, antioxidants and more, making one of the top-ranked fruits for your health.

Eating apples has been linked to a lower risk of chronic diseases including type 2 diabetes, cancer, heart disease, and dementia.

Eating apples in their whole form, not juicing them, will give you the synergistic blend of nutrients and fiber the way nature intended, yielding greater health benefits than apple juice.

A wealth of research suggests that eating apples may impact your health in a number of beneficial ways:

1. Brain Health: Apples have been found to protect neuron cells against oxidative stress-induced neurotoxicity and may play an important role in reducing the risk of neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease.

2. Stroke: Eating apples is linked to a decreased risk of stroke.

3. Diabetes: Three servings of apples (and other fruits, such as blueberries and grapes) is linked to a lower risk of type 2 diabetes. This may be due to their beneficial role in blood sugar regulation, as apples contain compounds that may:

• Lessen absorption of glucose from your digestive tract.
• Stimulate beta cells in your pancreas to secrete insulin.
• Increase uptake of glucose from your blood by stimulating insulin receptors

4. Cancer: Apples have a number of properties that may help reduce the risk of cancer, including antimutagenic activity, antioxidant activity, anti-inflammatory mechanisms, antiproliferative and apoptosis-inducing activity, as well as "novel mechanisms on epigenetic events and innate immunity

According to the journal Planta Medica:

• "Apple products have been shown to prevent skin, mammary and colon carcinogenesis in animal models."
• "Epidemiological observations indicate that regular consumption of one or more apples a day may reduce the risk for lung and colon cancer.”

5. Heart Disease: Eating apples is associated with a lower risk of death from heart disease, an association that’s thought to be related to their content of antioxidant flavonoids.

Mark Harris, PhD
Exercise Physiologist/Nutritionist
TexasMetabolics@gmail.com
Texas Metabolics