An apple a day...

... keeps the doctor away. Does it really?

I was thinking about that as I was reaching for a beautiful red, round, delicious Macintosh apple earlier today. How does the apple do that?

Well, it does it in several ways: first, you have to chew your apple... that of course if you are not eating it as apple sauce. Chewing is the first step of digestion; it initiates enzyme production in the mouth and in lower parts of the digestive tract. Chewing also contributes to satiety, the feeling of fullness. That's a good thing, isn't it?

Apples also do that through their fibre content. Although they only rank as "good" source of fibre, not "excellent", however the water-soluble pectin in apple improves satiety, amongst other benefits. Pectin in combination with other phytonutrients also lowers LDL cholesterol and triglyceride levels without any harmful side effects. The only side effect of consuming pectin is increased regularity.That's also a good thing.

The "star" of apples is a group of phytonutrients called polyphenols. These compounds (quercetin, catechin, anthocyanins to name a few) have been found - besides their well-known antioxidant quality - to have antiplatelet, antiviral, anti-tumor and anti-inflammatory activity. As a result of these characteristics, eating whole apples will help you fight cardiovascular disease, cancer, viral infections, inflammatory diseases such as atherosclerosis, irritable bowel syndrome, dermatitis.

In addition these awesome compounds have an impact on glucose regulation by the following mechanisms:
1. slowing carbohydrate digestion
2. slowing glucose absorption
3. increasing Insulin production
4. increasing Insulin-receptor sensitivity

As you can see, the old saying is true: an apple a day keeps the doctor away. You do have to eat your apple as a whole fruit to get these benefits. Why? I will talk about that another time.

Happy apple crunching!