Legend has it they keep doctors away and get teachers on your good side, but it is our bodies that reap the best rewards from apples.Apart from packing four grams of fiber into just 80 calories, apples contain a flavonoid (plant pigment) named quercetin, which happens to be one of the top prostate cancer and heart disease warriors.
A famous Finnish study (published in 1996 in the British Medical Journal) that tracked the nutrition habits of 5,000 adult men and women over a 20-year period found that those who frequently ate foods with high levels of quercetin had a 30 percent lower risk of developing cardiovascular complications.
Another flavonoid named phloridzin -- found exclusively in apples -- has been found to slow down bone loss during menopause. Just one a day, every day, is enough to help preserve bone structure.
Antioxidants are substances that help prevent the formation of free radicals (cancer-causing chemicals) in our bodies, and apples are loaded with them! Apples are such superstars that they come in at #2 in the "Fruits With The Highest Amount of Antioxidants" chart.
Back to fiber for a second. Apple skins contain pectin, a type of soluble fiber that brings on a feeling of satiety, helps the liver produce less bad cholesterol, and flushes out dangerous metals like lead and mercury out of our bodies.
The fruit itself has insoluble fiber, which keeps yucky stuff -- including free-roaming bad cholesterol -- moving in the digestive tract.
The healthiest way to eat an apple is raw and with its skin on. Apple juice is a black hole of nutrients and can't even begin to compare to to the crunchy goods that grow from trees.
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