Apple Benefits: Is it true An Apple Day Keeps The Doctor Away?

Medical Video: What Really Happens When You Eat an Apple Every Day For a Month?

The benefits of apples for health come from various components, both nutrients and not nutrients, which are contained in it. This fruit is said to make you do not need to visit a doctor frequently. Why so?

Types of apples

Apple trees come from eastern Europe and southwest Asia. After several centuries later, apple plants spread throughout the world, producing various variants that are easily found in both traditional markets and supermarkets. Some types of apples that you might already know are:

Apple Fuji: first cultivated around 1930 in Japan, the skin is yellowish red with a sweet taste and contains a lot of water.
Gala apple: originating from New Zealand, this apple is named The Royal Gala in honor of Queen Elizabeth II because this type of apple is one of the favorites of Queen Elizabeth II after visiting New Zealand in 1970. Yellowish red, the fruit is crisp, runny and very sweet .
Granny Smith Apple: originating from Australia, first discovered in 1868. It is bright green and sometimes there is a red tinge. The texture is hard, tastes rather sour and is usually consumed raw or a mixture of pie and sauce.
Poor apple: This apple originating from Indonesia is green with a red tinge, it tastes rather sour.
What's more: both from Indonesia, manalagi apple has a sweeter taste compared to poor apples, the texture is rather chewy and the water content is small. The Manalagi Apple is yellowish green.

How can an apple keep you away from a doctor?

Daily consumption of apples can help improve your health because of the fiber content, vitamins, phytonutrients and antioxidants in it. This can prevent you from various diseases, and of course keep you from having to visit a doctor because of illness. The benefits of apples include preventing heart disease, preventing asthma, helping to lose weight, preventing diseases due to old age, helping to maintain digestive health, to improve the work of the immune system. Some components of apples that can help improve your health are:

1. Phytonutrients

The red color that dominates most types of apples is not without benefits. This red color is caused by anthocyanin, a type of phytonutrients (unique chemical compounds found only in plants) that can provide many health benefits for the body. Anthocyanin is anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer, can prevent the development of heart disease, control obesity, to help control blood sugar levels. Anthocyanin also plays a role in maintaining healthy eyesight and helps prevent a decrease in nerve function caused by old age. One of the flavonols found in apples can prevent and reduce the risk of pancreatic cancer.

2. Antioxidants

Antioxidants play an important role in maintaining a healthy body, especially because of its function to counteract the adverse effects of free radicals. We can get free radicals from metabolic waste in the body and also from various pollutants found in food, air, and even sunlight. Free radicals are in the form of molecules whose electrons are less so they are highly reactive and damage healthy cells around them. Healthy cells that are affected by free radicals will destroy themselves so that they trigger diseases. Antioxidants function as electron donors to neutralize the reactive properties of free radicals so as to prevent cell damage.

According to research conducted in the Food Science and Toxicology Department of Ithaca New York, antioxidants contained in one apple are equivalent to antioxidants contained in 1500 mg of vitamin C. Eat apples with their skin, because most of the antioxidants found in apples are on their skin.

3. Fiber

Each 100 grams of apple contains about 2 to 3 grams of fiber. Fiber is proven to work the digestive system, but not only that, fiber consumption also has an effect on decreasing levels of fat in the blood. This is related to the presence of pectin, a lot of soluble fiber found in apples. Pectin works with the components of phytonutrients in apples to control fat levels and blood sugar levels. Foods that are high in fiber also tend to be more filling so that they can help you lose weight. Having a healthy digestion, controlled fat and blood sugar levels, and ideal body weight can reduce your risk of developing degenerative diseases in the future.

4. Vitamins

In apples there are vitamin C, vitamin B6, and vitamin B1. One medium sized apple (about 180 grams) contains 8.4 mg of vitamin C. Vitamin C helps the synthesis of collagen, an important component found in tendons, ligaments, blood vessels, and skin. In addition, vitamin C serves to repair damaged tissues, especially bone and tooth tissue. Vitamin C also works as an antioxidant which can counteract the bad effects of free radicals.

Vitamin B6 in the body functions to help the body form neurotransmitters, compounds that are responsible for delivering signals between nerves. Vitamin B6 is also needed for the formation of serotonin and norepinephrine hormones. Both of these hormones play a role in maintaining the body's biological clock. Without vitamin B6, our body will have difficulty absorbing vitamin B12 so that it can cause the body to not produce immune cells and red blood cells properly.

Vitamin B1, also called thiamine, is known as an anti-stress vitamin because its function is to maximize the immune system's work and improve body function in dealing with stress. Vitamin B1 also plays a role in a metabolic reaction and helps the body produce ATP which is a source of energy for the body.