Popular Conditions & Diets
Apple: Can One A Day Really Keep The Doctor Away?
Apple: Can One A Day Really Keep The Doctor Away?
Apples balance cholesterol, fight free radicals, and pack powerful antioxidants.
Ingredient feature
An apple is a funny thing. On the one hand, it is the most humble, pedestrian fruit. On the other, it is the stuff of legend, lore and fable. Who could forget Snow White's apple-induced coma? And, of course, it was the forbidden fruit of Original Sin.
The story of apples goes back 10,000 years to the Tian Shan mountain range in China, where they likely originated before travelling along the Silk Road trading route to Europe and beyond. Today over 7,000 different varieties are growing around the globe.
An Apple a Day Keeps Cholesterol at Bay
Apples contain two distinctly different types of fibre that work together to balance cholesterol in the body. The insoluble fibre grabs onto LDL, "bad cholesterol," while the soluble fibre reduces the amount of LDL produced by the liver. The bowel regularity promoted by apple fibre also helps to sweep excess cholesterol and other waste metabolites out of the body.
We now know LDL doesn't threaten cardiac health independently; it's oxidized LDL that can wreak havoc. So, if we can stop free radical damage from happening to our cholesterol and cholesterol transport systems, we will do our arteries a world of good.
Best Practices
Generally, it's best to keep them in the fridge for storage, but if they are unripe and you are antsy to eat them, you can place them in a paper bag in a cool, dark, airy place, which will trap enough emitted ethylene gas to speed up their ripening. This is the same reason one rotten apple can ruin a whole fruit bowl.
Where possible, purchase organic to avoid wax and pesticides.
Tags:
Vitamin-Rich
