Appels voor een gezond hart en tegen Alzheimer*
Uit een analyse van verschillende studies naar appels blijkt dat het regelmatig eten van een appel goed is tegen het metabool syndroom, met als symptomen hoge bloeddruk, buikvet, hogere waarden van het ontstekingsproteïne CRP dat weer een indicatie is voor diabetes en hart- en vaatziekte. Zoals al uit eerdere grote studies was gebleken blijkt ook uit deze studie dat door het regelmatig eten van appels de kans op deze symptomen met wel 27% daalt. Belangrijk daarbij is wel het eten van de hele appel (met schil) omdat daar wel meer dan 1.000 bioactieve stoffen inzitten. Uit een andere studie,weliswaar met muizen blijkt dat appels en appelsap goed lijken te werken tegen de
ziekte van Alzheimer. Bij de ziekte van Alzheimer ontstaan er kluwens van draadvormige eiwitten in de zenuwcellen en vooral ophopingen (“plaques”) van een storende stof, amyloïd-beta tussen de zenuwcellen. Gevolg is dat vooral de communicatie tussen zenuwcellen bemoeilijkt tot zelfs onderbroken wordt. De muizen die een maand lang dagelijks appelsap bij hun voeding kregen hadden duidelijk minder plaquesvorming. De dagelijkse hoeveelheid was vergelijkbaar voor mensen met dagelijks 2 glazen appelsap.
Eating Apples Benefits the Heart
A team of researchers who looked at data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 1999 to 2004 has found that eating apples can offer protective effects against metabolic syndrome, which is a cluster of symptoms related to increased heart disease risk.
People who had reported eating any form of apples within the past 24 hours had 27% lower chance of having the symptoms of metabolic syndrome. These include high blood pressure, or a large waist measurement (over 40 inches for men or over 35 inches for women). They also had lower blood levels of C-reactive protein, which is a marker for inflammation signifying heightened risk for diabetes and heart disease.
This recent study led by Victor Fulgoni, PhD, adds to increasing evidence that apples are good for the heart. The recent Iowa Women's Health Study, for example, tracked over 34,000 women for close to two decades and found a link between the consumption of apples and lower risk of death from cardiovascular disease as well as coronary heart
disease.
Prior to that, research in Finland using data of 9,208 people and carried out over a period of 28 years found that those who ate apples frequently had lower risk of getting a stroke.
Some beneficial compounds in apples include antioxidant flavonoid compounds such as epicatechin, epigallocatechin, kaempferol and quercetin, which play an important role in inhibiting inflammation and preventing low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol from oxidizing, which in turn triggers a series of processes which then cause the buildup of plaque in arteries; pectin, a soluble fiber which helps lower cholesterol levels; and vitamin C, another important antioxidant and immune boosting
nutrient.
And antioxidants are just one part of the entire picture. Rui Hai Liu, PhD, a Cornell University food scientist who is an apple expert and who had in other research identified anti-cancer elements in extracts of whole apples, feels that there is still a lot to learn about how the various constituents in apples "work together additively and synergistically to provide health benefits".
This point was echoed by one of the team members of the Iowa Women's Health Study, David Jacobs, PhD, a University of Minnesota researcher. "There are probably thousands of compounds in apples that we haven't yet identified and maybe won't identify for a long time, but we really don't need to know all that, because we can eat whole apples," he said.
This piece of advice from Jacobs really applies to all food in general - eat them in their natural, whole forms, as provided by Nature, and we will reap the maximum benefits. Unfortunately, most of us today eat processed material which, while edible, barely even passes off for food in the truest sense of the word.
Much of the useful phytochemicals in apples can be found in its skin, and you may want to eat that, too. Afraid of pesticides? Buy organic apples. If you cannot afford them or they are not available in your area, you may want to use a natural vegetable cleaning liquid to help remove as much of the chemicals from the skin as possible before consumption.
Apple Juice Delays Onset Of Alzheimer's Disease In Mouse Model
A growing body of evidence demonstrates that we can take steps to delay age-related cognitive decline, including in some cases that which accompanies Alzheimer's disease, according to a study published in the Journal of Alzheimer's
Disease.
Thomas B. Shea, PhD, of the Center for Cellular Neurobiology; Neurodegeneration Research University of Massachusetts, Lowell and his research team have carried out a number of laboratory studies demonstrating that drinking apple juice helped mice perform better than normal in maze trials, and prevented the decline in performance that was otherwise observed as these mice
aged.
In the most recent study Shea and his team demonstrated that mice receiving the human equivalent of 2 glasses of apple juice per day for 1 month produced less of a small protein fragment, called "beta-amyloid" that is responsible for forming the "senile plaques" that are commonly found in brains of individuals suffering from Alzheimer's disease.
Dr. Shea commented that "These findings provide further evidence linking nutritional and genetic risk factors for age-related neurodegeneration and suggest that regular consumption of apple juice can not only help to keep one's mind functioning at its best, but may also be able to delay key aspects of Alzheimer's disease and augment therapeutic
approaches."
The article is "Dietary Supplementation with Apple Juice Decreases Endogenous Amyloid-β Levels in Murine Brain" by Amy Chan and Thomas B. Shea. It is published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease 16:1
(Maart
2009)
