If the reduced risk of several chronic diseases and the abundant nutrients and nutritional benefits help keep the doctor away, research indicates that apples easily meet that criteria. Apples are a leading disease-preventing and health-promoting food, and are at their best in flavor in the United States during the fall.
However, there are warning issues with apples that most people are unaware of. Apples are consistently on the Environmental Working Group’s list of produce with the highest concentrations of harmful pesticides, and some apples on the market are now genetically modified, which a significant percentage of the population wants to avoid.
What follows is a comprehensive summary of apples: their many benefits along with warnings about the potential risks of modern pesticide use and genetic modification.
A rich source of phytochemicals
Apples are a rich and widely consumed source of vitamins C and E, potassium, magnesium, and phytochemicals, non-nutrient plant compounds that confer many health benefits. Thousands of phytochemicals have been identified in foods, but there are still many that remain unidentified.
Flavonoids, powerful antioxidants that help fight free radicals that damage and age the body, are an important class of phytochemicals found in apples. In a finnish studio out of approximately 10,000 people, flavonoid intake was associated with lower total mortality. Apples were one of the main sources of dietary flavonoids that showed the strongest associations with decreased mortality, or in other words, longer life.
apples for weight loss
Apples are high in water and dietary fiber content, which makes them filling. They are also lower in carbohydrates and calories than other carbohydrate sources like grains and beans. For these reasons, eating them can help control weight.
In A studyEating whole apples increased satiety for up to four hours longer than consuming equal amounts of apple juice or applesauce. This happened because whole apples reduce gastric emptying, the rate at which the stomach empties its contents.
Animal and human experiments have shown that eating apples in different forms can cause weight loss in overweight subjects, and some studies suggest that polyphenols in apples may have anti-obesity effects.
Reduced risk of cancer and other diseases
“In numerous epidemiological studies, apples have been associated with a lower risk of chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancer and asthma,” he summarized. a review of scientific research published in Nutrition Journal.
“In vitro And animal studies have shown that apples have high antioxidant activity, can inhibit cancer cell proliferation, decrease lipid oxidation, and lower cholesterol, which could explain their role in reducing the risk of chronic diseases.” continuous.
Human and animal studies suggest that eating apples may improve blood vessel function, cholesterol metabolism, and inflammation, factors that may explain their protective effects against cardiovascular disease. 2015 investigation suggests that the fiber and polyphenols in apples benefit the composition of the gut microbiome, which may also play a previously unrecognized role in reducing cardiovascular disease risk factors.
In terms of protection against cancer, a 2011 review article Titled “A Comprehensive Review of Apples and Apple Components and Their Relation to Human Health,” it explained that there are “multiple plausible mechanisms” by which apples might reduce cancer risk in humans. test tube studies suggest that apple polyphenols prevent cancer cells from multiplying. This effect of its polyphenols along with the antioxidant properties of apples is thought to exert “chemopreventive” activity, reducing a person’s risk of developing cancer or preventing it from coming back. Apple pectin fiber may help provide other cancer-fighting properties.
With lung disorders, particularly asthma, researchers believe that the lungs are particularly susceptible to damage from continuous high exposure to oxygen. Apples could protect lung function and help prevent inflammatory and allergic lung diseases such as asthma due to their antioxidant potential and phytochemical content.
Other health benefits
A great trial in progress found that women who ate an apple a day had a 28 percent lower risk of type 2 diabetes compared to those who ate no apples.
Mentioned above 2011 review article summarized studies suggesting that apples may have beneficial effects on outcomes related to Alzheimer’s disease, cognitive decline in aging, and bone health.
That same review article concluded that the data related to apple products and disease risk reduction is “provocative and mixed.” The combined phytochemical and nutrient profiles in apples suggest “their potential to be powerful in the prevention of various chronic conditions in humans.”
beware of pesticides
As beneficial as research shows apples are, many synthetic chemical pesticides are applied to non-organic apples, which may offset some of their benefits or add new health risks.
Every year since 2004, the Environmental Working Group has updated its Produce Pesticides Buyers Guide and compiled a “Dirty Dozen” list of produce items with the highest amount of pesticide residues. Apples are generally near the top of the list because they contain an average of 4.4 pesticide residues, including some in high concentrations. The apples were, once again, in the Dirty dozen list in 2022.
raw apple tests conducted by scientists at the Department of Agriculture in 2016 found diphenylamine in 80 percent of them. Diphenylamine is a controversial chemical that has been restricted in imported European apples starting in 2014.
But the pesticide concerns go far beyond diphenylamine. A database of pesticides used on different crops in the United States, compiled by Beyond Pesticides, shows that although apples grown with toxic chemicals can sometimes have low pesticide residues:
- There are 109 different pesticides that can be used on apples;
- 94% of pesticides, including the problematic herbicide glyphosate, are linked to chronic health problems (such as cancer);
- 39 of the pesticides are highly toxic, creating a dangerous environment for farm workers.
Many of the pesticides used on apples are also harmful to wildlife and the environment. According to the database:
- 92 of the pesticides that can be used on apples are poisonous to wildlife;
- 44 are considered toxic to honey bees and other pollinating insects;
- 25 contaminate streams or groundwater.
While not every pesticide on the list is applied to every apple, there is no way to know which pesticides are applied to a given conventional apple on your store shelf. The main ways to protect yourself are to buy organic produce or talk to local apple growers about the pesticides they use.
genetically modified apples
Another relatively new topic is the introduction of genetically modified (GM) apples designed for a purely cosmetic effect. These apples are rarely clearly labeled as GM.
The Arctic® apple, developed by Okanagan Specialty Fruits, is an apple that has been genetically modified so that it does not turn brown immediately when cut or bruised. This modification uses a relatively new genetic engineering technology known as RNA interference (RNAi), which interferes with the fruit’s natural production of an enzyme that causes browning (i.e., polyphenol oxidase [PPO]) by silencing the PPO genes that express it, thereby drastically reducing the amount of the enzyme present in the apple, according to The Non-GMO Project. The apples, which are scheduled to be sold as pre-cut slices or cubes to go, have the Arctic® name, a logo and a square QR code on the packages.
The Center for Food Safety said that the USDA’s environmental assessment was inadequate and that proper characterization of the PPO genes, their functions, and the impacts of silencing them on the apple tree as a whole was not done before these apples were allowed into the market in the United States. The center noted that PPO genes in other plants have been shown to be associated with resistance to pathogens and that silencing them could lead to increased susceptibility to diseases and pests, possibly resulting in increased pesticide use in GM apples.
About half of American adults are wary of the health effects of genetically modified foods, according to Pew Research Center Surveysand nearly half of U.S. consumers avoid GMOs at least somewhat, according to a 2018 survey. The short-term and long-term health and environmental effects of silencing a gene in apples are unknown.
Also, the cosmetic effect that prevents browning is unnecessary because there are other ways to prevent apples from browning when sliced: for example, sprinkle sliced apples with a little lemon juice or another form of vitamin C.
If you want to buy apples that don’t brown easily when you cut them, try not to brown them naturally. opal apples, a non-GMO variety produced using natural breeding techniques. They are a warm golden yellow in color and similar in flavor to Honeycrisp apples.
A key way to avoid both pesticides and genetically modified organisms (GMOs) is to buy organic produce. The use of synthetic chemical pesticides and GMOs is prohibited in USDA Organic certified foods.
Get the most out of the benefits of apples
Apples are powerful, nutrient-dense, disease-preventing foods. To get the most health benefits with the fewest potential risks, eat apples whole with skin, where the highest amounts of their most protective nutrients are found, and buy organic varieties.
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