From raw to dry, we explain the best way to eat your apple a day –

Fresh

Apples are a convenient and affordable source of fiber and beneficial antioxidants, as well as plant compounds called polyphenols such as quercetin that have anti-inflammatory properties.

This may explain studies that have linked regular consumption of an apple a day with a reduced risk of heart disease, asthma, and type 2 diabetes.

An apple a day may also have a “significant preventive effect” on lung, colorectal and digestive system cancers, according to a review from the University of Perugia, Italy, published in the journal Public Health Nutrition in 2016.

At around 50 calories each, apples may also help you lose weight, in part because the fruit’s 2.5g of fiber increases satiety.

Scientists at the University of Pennsylvania in the United States found that eating two apples 15 minutes before a meal can reduce the meal’s calorie intake by 15 percent (even with the calories in the apple).

Also, eat the peel to maximize its health benefits.

“When you peel an apple, you lose half of the fiber and other important antioxidant plant compounds found in and just below the peel,” says dietitian Sarah Schenker.

Apples are also regularly featured on the annual list of the “dirty dozen” foods with the most pesticides in the United States, so Dr. Schenker says they should always wash them before eating them.

baked

When apples are cooked or boiled, some nutrients are lost in them, but other benefits are gained.

“When you cook fruit, you lose vitamins B and C in the cooking water, but you continue to get these nutrients when you consume the cooking liquid,” said Liangzi Zhang, a food scientist at the Food Databanks National Talent Research Center. funded by the government. “Grilling, broiling, steaming, or microwaving generally retains more nutrients.”

According to a study published in 2010 in the Journal of Fruit and Ornamental Plant Research, lightly cooked apples can triple the amount of polyphenols your body absorbs.

Cooking also helps destroy the enzyme polyphenol oxidase, which turns into brown fresh apples, a process that reacts with oxygen and lowers polyphenol levels. Boiled apples are also easier on the gut. They also secrete pectin, a fiber on which gut bacteria feed.

Including a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 1991 showed that apple pectin, given to gut bacteria, stimulates the production of short-chain fatty acids that help protect the intestinal lining and protect against inflammation, even more effectively than oat fiber. .

Boiled apples are also easier on the gut. They also secrete pectin, a fiber on which gut bacteria feed.

anhydrous

Dried apples contain less vitamin C than fresh apples, but other nutrients, including fiber, are concentrated by the dehydration process.

Research shows that these benefits can offset the negative impact of the increase in sugar and calories. In 2011, researchers from the University of Florida in the United States gave 75 grams of dried apples (equivalent to two fresh apples) per day to one group of postmenopausal women and 100 grams of prunes to another group.

Six months later, the group with dried apples had a 23% reduction in “bad” LDL cholesterol. Not plum eaters.

The apple group also had a greater decrease in C-reactive protein, an inflammatory marker associated with cardiovascular disease, likely due to polyphenols and fiber-depleting inflammation.

Although dried apples added 240 extra calories to their daily energy intake, the women in the 12-month study lost an average of 1.4 kg (3 pounds) as fiber can help fill them up.

Dried apples contain less vitamin C than fresh apples, but other nutrients, including fiber, are concentrated by the dehydration process.

bored

Although a glass of apple juice counts as one of your five a day, juice removes most of the fiber and raises the concentration of sugar, so the glycemic index (a measure of its effect on blood sugar) is around 50. 36 for a whole apple. “Fruit juice disrupts the physical structure of the food, causing sugar to be digested too quickly,” says Liangzi Zhang.

But Sarah Schenker says juice is still a beneficial source of nutrients, with a lower GI than orange juice (59). She recommends choosing cloudy apple juice, as it contains four times more polyphenols than clear varieties.

Louise Atkinson