Apples are packed with health benefits

NEW YORK – “An apple a day” might seem like overkill, but the US’ most popular fruit – weighing down branches in orchards everywhere – is packed with health benefits. Here is what nutrition experts have to say about apples.

They are good for your gut

Apples are rich in dietary fibre, a type of complex carbohydrate that the body is not capable of digesting on its own. That fibre acts as food for many of the bacteria species that reside in the gut. These bacteria have a powerful impact on health, affecting everything from cancer risk to weight to mood.

A diet high in fruit and vegetables, including apples, has been shown to increase the number of beneficial bacteria and decrease the number of harmful bacteria in people’s guts, said Dr Marie van der Merwe, a nutrition scientist at the University of Memphis. That could lead to better overall health, she said.

In addition, apples contain a host of beneficial bacteria. While this is true for all fruit and vegetables, one study found that apples have a greater variety of bacteria than most.

When you eat an apple, some of those bacteria may become part of your microbiome. The apple is “acting like a probiotic in addition to acting like a prebiotic”, said Dr van der Merwe.

They are heart-healthy

Apples have high amounts of pectin, a dietary fibre that can help you maintain healthy cholesterol levels.

In a 2012 study, 160 postmenopausal women ate either 75g of dried apples – equal to about two medium-sized apples – or prunes every day for one year. After six months, the women who consumed apples experienced a 13 per cent drop in their total cholesterol and a 24 per cent drop in “bad” LDL cholesterol, while the women who ate prunes experienced a 3.5 per cent drop in total cholesterol and an 8 per cent drop in LDL cholesterol.

Apples are also one of the biggest dietary sources of polyphenols — tiny, health-promoting molecules that plants produce to defend themselves from the elements.

Certain polyphenols in apples, called flavonoids, are particularly good at stimulating the production of nitric oxide, a gas that flows through the blood vessels, causing them to dilate. That is good for blood pressure, said Dr Nicola Bondonno, a postdoctoral researcher at the Danish Cancer Institute who has co-authored several studies on apples.

They can reduce chronic inflammation

Polyphenols in apples can reduce inflammation and, in turn, possibly help reduce disease risk.

Researchers published a study in August that analysed health data from more than 119,000 people collected over nearly 20 years, including records of everything they ate over a 24-hour period on five separate occasions.

The study found that those who reported eating more than two apples a day in the meal logs had a 30 per cent lower chance of developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) later on.

“We saw benefits even at just half a serving a day,” said Professor Aedin Cassidy, the chair of nutrition and preventive medicine at Queen’s University Belfast and a study co-author. The study found that the association between apples and COPD risk was also linked to a reduction in inflammatory markers.

How to enjoy apples

Apples are most nutritious when you leave the skin on, Dr Bondonno said. After all, it is the skin that contains those powerful polyphenols and much of the fibre. She added that you should wash apples thoroughly before eating them to avoid pesticide exposure.

In general, a darker-colour apple will have a richer variety of polyphenols, Dr van der Merwe said. But more important than selecting the deepest red apple you can find is eating different apple varieties, so you can absorb as many different polyphenols as possible, she said. NYTIMES