Can an apple a day really keep the doctor away? Well, an apple a day can keep anyone away if you throw it hard enough! All kidding aside, apples are more than just wonderfully easy to handle projectiles.
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These fruits have been a produce department staple for centuries thanks to both their relative hardiness and their numerous health benefits. If you’re considering revamping your diet and adding in some healthy options, add apples to your snacking routine and you’ll find you’ve made a delicious and health-improving choice.
Keep Weight In Check
If you’re continually fighting to keep those unwanted pounds from uniting to form an oh-so-annoying spare tire around your midsection, make apples your allies. Like all high-fiber foods, apples keep you feeling fuller for longer, reducing the likelihood that you engage in avoidable binging.
If you’re often ravenous at mealtimes consider eating an apple about 20 minutes before you sit down to eat. This healthy appetizer of sorts will take the edge off and reduce the likelihood that you overeat.
Help Your Immune System
Don’t let bouts with the common cold and seasonal ‘flu knock you out time and time again. Red apples, which are rich in the antioxidant, quercetin can help you fight off these germs by bolstering your immune system.
Benefit Your Pearly Whites
If you just love your glowing smile, eating apples is an easy way to maintain it. Biting into and chewing abrasive apples naturally removes some of the grime that sticks to your teeth, although you shouldn’t eat apples in place of brushing.
Additionally, chewing on apples helps prompt saliva production which leads to a natural decline in the number of bacteria in your mouth.
Maintain Your Heart Health
A healthy heart is of paramount importance. Chowing down on an apple on a regular basis could do much to keep your ticker in tip-top shape. Not only do fiber-rich apples reduce levels of bad cholesterol, but they may also prevent cholesterol from hardening in your arteries.
Apple skin specifically has substantial benefits as it is rich in a phenolic compound that helps ensure your arteries stay clear, which reduces your likelihood of suffering from debilitating and potentially deadly coronary artery disease.
Keep Your Eyes Healthy
Although carrots are an edible wonder that is always touted to have vision benefits, apples could prove just as helpful to your beautiful eyes. Several peer-reviewed studies have tied apple consumption to a reduction on the development of cataracts.
These studies suggest that the benefits could be substantial, reducing your likelihood of developing this vision issue by 10 to 15 percent.
Ease Digestive Issues
No one likes feeling the cramps and discomfort that accompanies digestive upset. Because apples are high in fiber, they are natural digestive aides.
The healthy dose of fiber apples provide can get your bowels moving to prevent constipation or absorb excessive water that may be in your GI tract, reducing the likelihood that you suffer from diarrhea.
Reduce Your Diabetes Risk
Eating a healthy and balanced diet is vital to preventing the development of type 2 diabetes. Apples may be particularly useful in winning this war.
A study on apples and their impact on type 2 diabetes development found that women who consumed at least one apple per day were 28 percent less likely to develop type 2 diabetes than those who hadn’t eaten apples.
Limit Cancer Risks
Unfortunately, nothing makes you cancer-proof. However, apples might reduce your risks. The American Association for Cancer Research states that eating apples can reduce risks of developing an assortment of different cancers. Scientists attribute this benefit to the prevalence of flavonol and triterpenoids in apples.
Prevent Alzheimer’s Development
Although it seems hard to believe that something as simple as the common apple could prevent something as horrible as Alzheimer’s, a study in which mice were fed an apple-rich diet suggests just that.
In the study, mice that consumed more apples showed an increase in the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, which helped them beat other mice in a maze test. It is thought that this neurotransmitter enhancing benefit could prevent the onset of Alzheimer’s.
Diminish Parkinson’s Risks
When people suffer from Parkinson’s disease the dopamine-producing nerves within the brain break down. Research into the disease has found that people who consume antioxidant-rich apples regularly were less likely to suffer from this disease. Scientists attribute this to the ability of these antioxidants to fight free radicals.
