Over half the apples grown (two billion bushels throughout the world) are eaten fresh. The remainder are baked into pies and other dishes and are used to make apple butter, apple juice, applesauce, jelly, and wine. Apple juice may be further processed into vinegar. Most apple products are canned or bottled, dried, or frozen.
Something as simple and natural as a daily apple may help in the fight against breast cancer. According to research scientist Rui Hai Liu, M.D., Ph.D., of Cornell University, the results are favorable. His research program at Cornell University focuses on diet and cancer, and the effect of functional foods on chronic disease, cardiovascular disease, and aging.
In an interview with the American Federation for Aging Research, Liu said he and his colleagues were able to show that phytochemicals in fresh apples could greatly inhibit the growth of liver and colon cancer cells. Specifically, his research showed that 50 mg of apple extracts taken from the skins, inhibited colon cancer cells by 43 percent. And apple flesh extracts inhibited the colon cancer cells by 29 percent. The same dosage of apple extracts with skins, he said,inhibited liver cancer cells by 57 percent, and the extracts inhibited liver cancer cells by 40 percent.
Apples Polyphenols
Quercetin is the primary phytonutrient found in apples, and it’s far more concentrated in the skin than in the pulp.
In a recent research studies show polyphenols to be the favorite mechanism used by apples to protect themselves from UV-B radiation. Cells in the skin of apple that conduct photosynthesis are especially sensitive to UV-B light from the sun. Many of the polyphenols in the skin of apples can actually absorb UV-B light, and thereby prevent UV-B from damaging the photosynthetic cells in the apple skin. Polyphenols, then, are like the apple’s natural sunscreen.
It is also interesting to note that the amazing polyphenol content of apples is related to their easy browning when sliced open or bruised. Inside the cells of apple skin and pulp are enzymes called polyphenol oxidases, or PPOs. When the cells of the apple are sliced through or physically damaged when an apple is dropped, the PPOs start oxidizing the polyphenols in apples, and the result you see is a browning of the damaged apple portion. It’s important to handle apples delicately in order to protect their health-supportive polyphenols.
Antioxidants are disease-fighting compounds. Scientists believe these compounds help prevent and repair oxidation damage that happens during normal cell activity. Apples are also full of a fibre called pectin—a medium-sized apple contains about 4 grams of fibre. Pectin is classed as a soluble, fermentable and viscous fibre, a combination that gives it a huge list of health benefits.
- Get whiter, healthier teeth
- Avoid Alzheimer’s
- Protect against Parkinson’s
- Curb all sorts of cancers
- Decrease your risk of diabetes
- Reduce cholesterol
- Get a healthier heart
- Prevent gallstones
- Beat diarrhea and constipation
- Neutralize irritable bowel syndrome
- Avert hemorrhoids
- Control your weight
- Detoxify your liver
- Boost your immune system
- Prevent cataracts
To get the most benefit, don’t peel your apples. Quercetin is found only in the skin.
Apple Storage
Apples can be stored for relatively long (3-4 months) periods of time. Cold storage at low refrigerator temperatures (35-40F/2-4C) is able to help minimize loss of nutrients. In addition, it’s helpful to maintain some moisture in the cold storage area, for example, by inclusion of damp cheesecloth in the crisper bin of a refrigerator. Over a period of time involving months, there is loss of total polyphenols from apples, including both flavonoid and non-flavonoid polyphenols. However, valuable amounts of polyphenols (and all other nutrients) remain. In some food traditions, cold storage of apples over the winter months is still counted on as a key part of dietary nourishment from fruits.
You’ve no doubt heard the saying, “one bad apple can spoil the whole bunch.” Well, research studies agree. An apple that has been bruised from being dropped (or that has been damaged in some other way) will start to release unusual amounts of ethylene gas. This ethylene gas can pose a risk to other apples that have not been damaged and greatly decrease their shelf life. For this reason, it’s important to handle apples with tender loving care, and also to remove any damaged apples from groups of apples stored in bulk.
Apples Preparation
The skin of the apple is unusually rich in nutrients, and even if the recipe you’ve chosen requires peeled apples, consider leaving the skins on to receive the unique benefits found in the skins. Choose organic apples to avoid problems related to pesticide residues and other contaminants on the skins.
If you cannot obtain organic apples, and you are willing to accept some level of risk related to consumption of residues on the apple skins, we believe that it can still be a good trade-off between nutrients and contaminants if you leave the skin of the apple intact and eat the apple unpeeled. Just be sure to thoroughly rinse the entire apple under a stream of pure water while gently scrubbing the skin with a natural bristle brush for 10-15 seconds.
To prevent browning when slicing apples for a recipe, simply put the slices in a bowl of cold water to which a spoonful of lemon juice has been added for use in future recipes, sliced apples freeze well in plastic bags or containers.
There’s an important loss of nutrients that usually occurs when apples are processed into applesauce, and an even greater loss when they are processed into juice. Some types of processing are easier on nutrients than others, but in general, apple sauces require boiling of apples and apple juices require some extraction of pulp. In all cases, the more apple that can be retained, the better the resulting nourishment. Processing can take a special toll on polyphenols. We’ve seen recent studies where only 10% of the flavonols and 3% of the catechins from the original apples remained present in the processed apple juice, Even chlorogenic acid (one of the more stable polyphenols in apples) tends to be decreased by at least 50% during the processing of whole apples into juice.
Obviously, there are exceptions to these generalized findings. For example, it is possible to put whole apples into a powerful blender and consume the resulting juice. In this case, very little if any of the nutrients are lost. However, this type of blending is not used in the commercial production of apple juice. Commercial apple juices are typically either “clear” or “cloudy.” Clear apple juices have the vast majority of the apple pomace (pulpy apple solids) removed. Cloudy apple juices typically retain some of these pulpy solids because even though the pulpy solids have been removed from the juice through pressing and filtering, they are added back in at some designated level. When purchasing apple juice, always choose cloudy juices if possible.
A few quick serving ideas
- Add diced apples to fruit or green salads.
- Braise a chopped apple with red cabbage.
- For an alternative to sweet desserts: Sliced apples (either alone or with other fruits) and cheese are a European favorite.
Apples Research Links
Relevance of specific apple polyphenolics and health.
http://www.treecrops.org.nz/resrch/apple/applecancdat.html
Cancer chemopreventive potential of apples, apple juice, and apple components.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18855307
Jason Vale, Champion arm wrestler has fought and cured cancer 3 times through eating raw apple and apricot seeds that contain a little known vitamin B17.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2793380650380830725#
The potential health benefits of apples are numerous. Regular consumption of fruits and vegetables, including apples, as part of a healthy diet may aid in the prevention of chronic disease and maintenance of good health.
http://www.nutritionj.com/content/3/1/5
Search Google.com for Apple Extract.
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