ScienceDaily (May 3, 2011) � Everyone has heard the old adage, "an apple a day keeps the doctor away." We all know we should eat more fruit. But why apples? Do they contain specific benefits?


According to Dr. Bahram H. Arjmandi, PhD, RD, Margaret A. Sitton Professor and Chair, Department of Nutrition, Food and Exercise Sciences at The Florida State University, apples are truly a "miracle fruit" that convey benefits beyond fiber content. Animal studies have shown that apple pectin and polyphenols in apple improve lipid metabolism and lower the production of pro-inflammatory molecules. Arjmandi's most recent research is the first to evaluate the long-term cardioprotective effects of daily consumption of apple in postmenopausal women.


The results of this USDA-funded study will be presented at Experimental Biology 2011 on April 12 in Washington, DC.


This study randomly assigned 160 women ages 45-65 to one of two dietary intervention groups: one received dried apples daily (75g/day for 1 year) and the other group ate dried prunes every day for a year. Blood samples were taken at 3, 6 and 12-months. The results surprised Dr. Arjmandi, who stated that "incredible changes in the apple-eating women happened by 6 months- they experienced a 23% decrease in LDL cholesterol," which is known as the "bad cholesterol." The daily apple consumption also led to a lowering of lipid hydroperoxide levels and C-reactive protein in those women.


"I never expected apple consumption to reduce bad cholesterol to this extent while increasing HDL cholesterol or good cholesterol by about 4%," Arjmandi said. Yet another advantage is that the extra 240 calories per day consumed from the dried apple did not lead to weight gain in the women; in fact, they lost on average 3.3 lbs. "Reducing body weight is an added benefit to daily apple intake" he said. Part of the reason for the weight loss could be the fruit's pectin, which is known to have a satiety effect. The next step in confirming the results of this study is a multi-investigator nationwide study.


There is frequently some truth behind our common expressions, and in the case of 'an apple a day,' Dr. Arjmandi has shown that nutrition science backs up the expression. "Everyone can benefit from consuming apples," he said.


This research was performed by Drs. Sheau C. Chai, Shirin Hooshmand, Raz L. Saadat, and Bahram Arjmandi, Florida State University.

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- Jim
https://www.natmedtalk.com/blog.php?u=529

I eat an apple every day all year even though I usually try to stick to eating what's in season. If I miss a day I crave apples yet I would put apples very low on my list of favorite fruits and would never even buy them if taste was the only criteria.

I love apples!!! How could you not like a good apple.. I like granny smiths.. but I like em all really.. there are thousands of species but only a few get sold in most markets unfortunately.

We always have apples around the house, right now we have granny smiths, braeburns and cripps pinks. I did a gallbladder cleanse one time with drinking unfiltered organic apple juice, which I enjoyed very much.

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I eat them also I try to buy the organic, based on what i've read the regular ones are saturated in pesticides but i've eaten so many over the years not sure what that means to me at this point. the organics ones are much more expensive but what can you do?