An apple a day keeps the doctor away. How many apples can you eat a day? Fresh apples: health benefits and harm. Contraindications and precautions

This famous English proverb is quoted with pleasure all over the world. Indeed, apples help in the prevention of many diseases, heal the body completely, relieve problems with the gastrointestinal tract and many others. Still doubt that you need to eat at least one apple a day? Then here are 10 reasons to start doing it.

1. Apples relieve problems with the heart and blood vessels
   Fresh fruits contain many antioxidants that fight free radicals and prevent aging and wear and tear of the body, including the heart muscle. And baked apples contain pectin - this substance helps regulate cholesterol levels in the blood, thereby making blood vessels healthier and preventing them from becoming clogged with fatty deposits.
2. Reduce the risk of stroke
   This was proven by Dutch scientists. They conducted a study, the results of which are simply stunning: those who eat just one apple a day, and not even every day, but at least 5 apples a week, suffer from a stroke 52% less than those who do not.
3. Increases the body's defenses
   Apples contain many bioflavonoids, which are also considered antioxidants that are so necessary for our body. Among them, the flavonoid quercetin is separately distinguished - it is it that improves the natural barrier functions of our body and prevents the penetration of infections.
4. Improve memory and attention
   With age, the amount of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine begins to decrease in the human body. This is what leads to memory deterioration and decreased concentration. If you eat an apple every day, already from youth, this problem can be postponed for a long time.
5. Prevent Alzheimer's disease
   And they not only prevent it, but also stimulate the mental abilities of those who have already developed it. This was confirmed by recent studies by British scientists, which found that eating one apple a day slows down the manifestations of senile dementia.


6. Can fight cancer
   First of all, prevent it and neutralize the negative consequences of a sedentary lifestyle and poor nutrition. Secondly, the same flavonoids can fight the growth of cancer cells, but to do this, be sure to eat the fruits with the peel, having washed them thoroughly beforehand.
7. Improve skin condition
   This is achieved by the fact that the abundance of fiber in apples has a beneficial effect on the intestines, and problems with the intestines always appear on the skin first. Fruits are also rich in vitamins, which are so necessary for the beauty and radiance of the skin.
8. Makes tooth enamel lighter
   Firstly, the pulp and peel of apples themselves have abrasive properties and help clean teeth. Eat an apple after meals - it can easily replace a toothbrush. Fruits also contain fruit acids that destroy plaque on enamel, making it lighter and whiter.
9. Helps you lose weight
   Another option is to eat apples - not before meals, but after, or as a snack. They contain an abundance of fiber, which will relieve you of hunger and reduce the risk of overeating. You can safely organize fasting days on apples. This is an ideal fruit for dietary nutrition, as it does not contain fat and sodium.
10. Increases workout productivity
    Many people cannot eat anything nutritious before training, although it is extremely necessary to charge the body with energy for a productive activity. So, an apple can be an excellent pre-workout meal. It will provide the necessary vitamins to your body, and will also help saturate your lungs with oxygen.

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As they say, everything that fits into your mouth is useful. That is, all the food that a person consumes benefits our body to one degree or another. Now I want to talk about apples: how much the body needs them and whether they can become a panacea for all ills.

Nutrients of apple

An apple is a truly unique food product. After all, it contains many useful vitamins and microelements. So, these are B vitamins (more precisely, vitamins B1, B2), as well as C, P, E. In addition, apples are an excellent source of iron that is easily absorbed by our body. This product also contains sufficient quantities of magnesium and potassium - microelements essential for the functioning of the body.

It is worth saying that folk craftsmen can use apples to treat not only colds, but also various serious illnesses. And some say that they can even cure cancer. This information, of course, is extremely difficult to verify. But the fact that apples stabilize blood pressure thanks to potassium, and also strengthen bone tissue and tooth enamel thanks to calcium is a scientifically proven fact.

Also, apple fiber lingers in the body for a long time, saturating it, and pectin improves the appearance of the skin, prolonging its beauty, freshness and youth. In addition, this food product is hypoallergenic. So it can be consumed safely by almost all people.

American practice

“An apple a day keeps the doctor away” is a well-known saying in America. As a joke, a scientist at the University of Michigan, Associate Professor Matthew A. Davis, decided to investigate it. His experiment was originally a joke. But, nevertheless, the research was carried out according to the rules, and various scientific methods were necessarily used. The results were subsequently published in the English-language journal JAMA Internal Medicine, quite well known in scientific circles.

Almost 9 thousand American adults took part in the experiment. The results of their survey were examined very carefully. The findings were completely unexpected. Only 9% of participants who regularly ate apples said that they rarely seek medical help.

However, everything is not so sad. People who regularly eat this food product smoke much less. And their ability to learn is higher. The mental capabilities of such people are at a higher level compared to others. Well, they consume much less medicine than other researchers.

So the saying “an apple a day and you don’t need a doctor” can be slightly adjusted. In truth, it should sound like this: “an apple a day and no need for a pharmacist.”

A few words about the dangers of apples

When talking about how healthy a food product such as apples is, it is necessary to clarify that it is not always suitable as a food for everyone. In what cases is it better to avoid consuming this food product?

1. Due to the presence of coarse fiber in apples, this food product can be dangerous for colitis. At the same time, apples consumed in large quantities can provoke the occurrence of various diseases that affect the gastrointestinal tract.
2. If you want to saturate your body with vitamins as much as possible, you need to eat green, not red varieties.
3. People with heart problems are better off consuming sour rather than sweet varieties of apples.
4. Apple seeds are beneficial for the body. After all, they are an excellent source of iodine. But in order not to harm your body, you should not eat more than 5 of them per day. After all, they also contain acid, which in large quantities acts on the human body as a poison.

The apple season can be considered open with the onset of the Apple Savior, which this year began on August 19. The benefits of apples are enormous, and now you can get vitamins from them until the end of autumn. Besides, when, if not in the summer, can you prepare amazing desserts while simultaneously improving your figure, intestinal and skin condition? And the benefits of dried apples in the form of chips attract closer to the cold season.

The apple is a surprisingly simple and incredibly healthy fruit. It is valued all over the world: in Russia it is considered the most familiar fruit, in England it is considered the main doctor. Even an old English proverb says, “An apple a day – keeps the doctor away.” And indeed, if you eat an apple a day, your body will become healthier and more resistant to various diseases, because they effectively increase immunity.

We won’t talk about the variety of varieties; it’s better to talk about the benefits of apples. Firstly, they contain about 87% water, due to which they are already a useful product for humans. In addition, they are rich in vitamins C, B1, B2, P, E, and many useful elements, including carotene, potassium, iron, manganese, calcium, pectins, various sugars, organic acids and a lot of fiber. The apple also contains trace elements necessary for the body: sulfur, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, sodium, aluminum, iron, iodine, fluorine, chromium, zinc and others.

Apples normalize the activity of the gastrointestinal tract, digestive system and liver. So, they treat gastritis - they eat it 3 times a week in grated form for a month. Plus, they reduce appetite, which is why they are popular with nutritionists. They also reduce the amount of cholesterol in the blood thanks to pectin and dietary fiber, of which an apple with peel contains 3.5 g, which is 10% of the required daily requirement. By the way, these same fibers not only remove harmful substances from the body, but also prevent constipation, reducing the likelihood of developing colon cancer. A large amount of vitamin C helps fight vitamin deficiency, and iron helps fight anemia. Just remember how quickly freshly squeezed apple juice darkens; this is due to iron. Thanks to this, the juice strengthens the cardiovascular system and is very useful for people engaged in mental work.

The benefits of apples are endless. They can be called a virtually waste-free product, since you can eat them with the peel and seeds and get even more benefits. Because the peel contains a large amount of the antioxidant quercetin, which improves immunity, and the apple seeds contain about 15% of healthy digestible fatty oil.

As for use, it all depends only on your imagination. You can eat fruits fresh - in this case they prevent atherosclerosis. You can bake it with a small amount of cinnamon (by the way, baked apples are number one in any diet for medical reasons). It is very useful to drink apple infusions - pour boiling water over the apples or add them to tea and let it brew. It’s just important to remember that heat treatment destroys many beneficial substances.
Another interesting fact - it turns out that green apples have more benefits for the body than red ones. It was previously believed that greens were lower in calories, but it has now become clear that this is not the case. It is reliably known that hard varieties (and these are usually green apples) have a pleasant sourness, thanks to which they quench thirst. In general, green apples and benefits are inseparable concepts.

We offer two simple but proven apple recipes.

The first is an excellent replacement for chips, gummies and other chemicals - dried apples. They are somewhat similar to chips, but taste like fruit candies. By the way, the benefits of dried apples are the same as those of fresh ones. They are very easy to make: peel and core clean sour or sweet-sour apples, cut into circles or slices, then place in salted water for 5-7 minutes so that they do not darken during drying. After this, dry either in the oven or naturally. In the sun this will take about two days; in the oven, the sliced ​​​​fruits should be laid out in a layer on a baking sheet and dried for about 6-8 hours at a temperature of 70-80 ° C.

Second - light and very summery French apple pie. For it you will need a layer of puff pastry (250-300g), 1-2 very thinly sliced ​​apples for filling, 2 tablespoons of honey. For the puree: 3 medium apples, cinnamon-vanilla-mint to taste and 3 tablespoons of sugar. First you need to make the puree: peel the apples, cut them into cubes, put them in a ladle, add spices and cook over low heat, stirring with a spoon, until the main part turns into puree. Then the previously defrosted dough needs to be rolled out to a thickness of about 5 mm and, stepping back 5 mm from the edge of the dough, use a knife to make an incision along the entire circumference, without cutting through the dough to the end, and prick the middle with a fork. Now it’s just a matter of small things: spread the puree on the dough, lay out thin apple slices on top and bake for about 20 minutes in an oven preheated to 200 degrees. Brush the finished pie with honey and serve.

According to legends, from this day you can start eating apples from the new harvest. Both for pleasure and for health.

Rejuvenating secret

Even the ancient Greeks spoke about the healing properties of apples. Even now there is a saying among people: “An eaten apple replaces a visit to the doctor.” But when scientists decided to check how true this was, it turned out that there are not so many vitamins in this fruit. Vitamin C, for example, is 10 times less than in oranges. And an apple weighing 150 grams provides only eight percent of the daily requirement of vitamin C, two percent of vitamin A, and even less for other vitamins. What then is the healing secret of this fruit?

Further research showed that the main wealth of apples is antioxidants. It is these substances that protect us from cancer, heart and vascular diseases, and from aging in general. And in terms of the content of these substances, apples occupy a leading position among other fruits. And, very importantly, unlike vitamins, antioxidants are not destroyed during storage.

Scientists from Cornell University in the US found that apple extracts were effective in blocking cancer cells. Only cranberry extract had a more powerful effect. And it also turned out that apple peel contains the maximum amount of healing substances. Therefore, those who like to eat apples lose a lot by peeling them.

Doctors came to the conclusion that apples themselves do not cure diseases. But with their help, the body can already cope with many dangerous ailments.

Here is just a small list of useful “apple properties”:

1 Apples restore blood. They are rich in iron, and regular consumption of apples increases hemoglobin levels, which is useful for anemia and after major blood loss.

2 They stimulate a surge of vitality, help with stress and fatigue, strengthen the cardiovascular system and improve brain function. This happens thanks to the minerals: magnesium, phosphorus, calcium, potassium, selenium and iodine, as well as vitamins C, B1, B2, PP, E.

3 Apples are very useful for hypertensive patients, as they remove excess water and salt from the body, which helps lower blood pressure. Those suffering from hypertension should eat at least one sweet and sour apple every morning or drink 1/2 glass of green apple juice an hour before meals.

4 Apples are useful for poisoning. Their plant cells are a natural sorbent and therefore are good at removing poisons from the body.

5 This fruit improves digestion because it contains the necessary organic acids: malic, citric, salicylic and boric. Thanks to them, apples stimulate the production of bile and gastric juice. It is believed that one apple 20 minutes before meals guarantees a good appetite.

6 Apples help you lose weight. It is believed that the best diet for slimness is to eat baked apples with kefir for several days. At the same time, there will be a small load on the stomach, and toxins will be removed from the body. For obesity, juice mixtures are made: apple juice - 100 ml, melon juice - 50 ml, tomato juice - 5 ml, lemon juice - 25 ml.

7 Apples even lower cholesterol levels! To do this, it is enough to eat two or three apples a day. Nutritionists have noticed that a two-week apple diet reduces the presence of this substance in human blood by almost 30%.

What else you need to know about apples

Green ones are healthier than red ones. They contain more valuable substances. In addition, they do not cause allergies, which is why they (or their juice) are recommended to be given to even the smallest children and pregnant women.

Sweet varieties of apples are good for kidney, liver and cardiovascular diseases; sour varieties are good for obesity and diabetes.

Apples can partially compensate for the harm caused by tobacco: they contain antioxidants that protect the lungs from nicotine. It has been noticed that the lungs of apple lovers work much better.

Apples increase the body's resistance to radiation.

It has been established that the juice of Antonov apples destroys microbes that cause dysentery.

The varieties “Antonovka” and “Semerenko” are especially valuable, in which all nutrients are retained for several months after they are removed from the tree.

By the way

Unfortunately, apples are not good for everyone. It is not advisable for people with peptic ulcers, especially duodenal ulcers, to eat them raw, since the acid contained in the fruits will irritate the diseased mucous membrane. Although one apple after a meal won’t hurt.

Folk recipe

A sure remedy for stomach catarrh is a gruel of grated green apples. Two grated green apples must be eaten immediately, as the pulp quickly sours and turns black. You need to eat early in the morning. And do not put anything else in your mouth for four to five hours.

This treatment continues for a month every day.

The second month you can take apples three times a week, and the third month only once.

This apple method requires some effort. After all, if you eat or drink anything within a couple of hours after eating apples, gases will form in the stomach, which will only worsen the disease and cause great harm.