Chidera Anushiem
You probably have heard the Irish proverb: an apple a day keeps the doctor away. Not only does it keep the doctor away, it does you a whole lot of good. Nothing compares to biting a fresh, green and juicy apple to start your day and satisfy your teeth while improving health-wise in a lot of ways. These benefits are what we’re here to talk about. Ready? Let’s go!
Apples are one of the most cultivated and consumed fruits and their benefits have earned them the appellation “miracle food”. In fact, the Medical News Today has ranked apples as the healthiest food in their recent featured article about the top 10 healthy foods. Not only do apples have a rich nutritional value, they also have a rich history, and before going into the nitty-gritty of the nutritional part, let us go briefly into the history of their cultivation.
A LITTLE ABOUT APPLES
Apples are one of the most cultivated fruits in the world. Today, there are more than 7,500 various cultivars that are being cultivated all over the world in both sub-tropical and temperate regions. You could cultivate apples for a variety of reasons, ranging from cooking to raw-eating to the production of cider (wholly natural apple juice). Having said that, we shall now proceed to learn about how apples can be of benefit to you. Leggo! So what are the benefits of eating apples? Research has shown that apples can be of great benefit to you. In fact, apples may be one of the healthiest foods you could input into your daily diet. Let’s now see the possible health benefits that apples could provide:
IMPROVING NEUROLOGICAL HEALTH
A research carried out in 2016 found out that apples contain a particular chemical, quercetin (an anti-oxidant present in apple), which is one compound that may help you reduce the death of cells that is caused by inflammation of neurons and oxidation of those cells. Another separate study found out that taking apple juice may help you increase your brain’s production of acetylcholine, an essential neurotransmitter which helps in improving the memory, especially people who show symptoms of Alzheimer’s.
AIDS DIGESTION
Apples are an excellent source of fruit fibre and therefore can be of help to you in the digestion of food. Frequent consumption of apples helps you ensure smooth movements within your bowels, lowers the likelihood for you to have constipation and other stomach disorders. Furthermore, the fibre in apples stimulates the secretion of digestive juices to ensure adequate assimilation of nutrients around the body. Not only does eating apples help you take care of digestion, apples can also be of help when it comes to cholesterol and heart issues. Apple fibres help to blot out cholesterol from the arteries, veins and other blood vessels, which helps to promote proper heart health and reduce the risks of arteriosclerosis.
TREATS ANAEMIA
Apples are rich in iron, which comes in handy when anaemia is involved. Anaemia results basically from a stark deficiency of haemoglobin in the blood, and simply taking apples puts you on the road to treating it simply because the iron content of apples helps to synthesize the red blood cells in the body. Apart from treating anaemia, eating apples also ensure proper oxygenation of vital organs to keep them up and running always!
FINAL NOTES…
Other conditions such as impaired vision, dry skin are other conditions which apples can help to cure or prevent. Apples can also come in handy for making apple juice, in making desserts and can be baked, fried, mashed or dried into chips and eaten as a wonderful snack.
The Midas touch that apples bring to the table is probably what inspired the Irish to tell us that apples have the power to keep doctors away. As we have seen, apples are beneficial to almost every part of our body—be it mental, nutritional, dental and otherwise. Therefore, do all you can to eat apples always!
