“This nutritious fruit offers multiple health benefits. Apples may lower your chance of developing cancer, diabetes, and heart disease. Research says apples may also help you lose weight while improving your gut and brain health.” – Healthline
Autumn is the perfect time for a fresh, seasonal, locally grown apple
Here are a few of the many benefits an apple may can provide:
- Boost respiratory health: A study of 1,500 people in the UK and another of 1,600 Australian residents found that apples reduced the risk of asthma, with those eating 5 apples a week seeing the best effects.
- Increase alertness: Apples are packed with vitamins, antioxidants, fiber, natural sugar, and phytonutrients that help you feel more alert. Unlike coffee, the sugars are slowly released into the body to avoid a subsequent crash.
- Keep us looking young: Fisetin, a compound that occurs naturally in apples, strawberries, cucumbers, onions and persimmons, has been found to be the most potent of all flavonoids. To keep it simple, tests run on the compound suggest that apples could help slow down the ageing process and extend the period of health even towards the end of life!
- Help lose or maintain weight: Apples have no fat or artificial ingredients. Add in that they’re full of fiber and water and it’s not rocket science to see that eating apples in a smarter nutritional decision than choosing a takeaway or bag of crisps. With around 90 calories per average apple, they fill you up without providing energy that may not be expended
- Good for your heart: Apples have been linked to reduced risk of heart disease. The soluble fiber found in apples can help to lower blood cholesterol levels, whilst other compounds have various other benefits such as antioxidant effects and reducing stroke risk.
- Helps make us happy: Debatably the best benefit of them all, apples are linked to improvements in our moods. One of the many antioxidants found in our favourite fruit is known as quercetin, which helps to fuel neurotransmitters in the brain and also reduces inflammation, making it a powerful mood-booster. Also found in apples is vitamin C, which is linked to reducing stress and anxiety, as well as a fiber which stabilises insulin to ward off low moods due to reduced blood sugar levels. All these nutrients result in apples being a great tool to boost mental health alongside physical health benefits!
Medicalert.org