Apples

More Than Just The Forbidden Fruit

By Matt Henderson

According to the Bible, when God left Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden all he required was that they not eat the forbidden fruit, because to do so would mean they were expelled from paradise forever. Of course, Adam and Eve could not resist the temptation of such appetising fruit, and what fruit was it? An apple!
Now, the Bible doesn’t clarify whether our ancestors were tempted by the fruit’s delicious appearance or because they were already aware of the numerous beneficial properties contained in a simple apple. But either way, it is definitely much more than just the forbidden fruit.

I am still surprised by the fact that among bodybuilders and fitness enthusiasts in general apples are not more appreciated, despite ample information about their beneficial properties. We all know the old saying, “An apple a day keeps the doctor away,” which can be taken quite literally. The saying comes from the traditional wisdom that the habitual consumption of this fruit helps maintain an optimum state of health, making visits to the doctor unnecessary.
In spite of widespread information from health authorities about the benefits of including fruit and vegetables in the diet, I am still amazed to find that in the dietary regimes of bodybuilders, fitness athletes and others who train with weights, these foods are systematically eliminated.
These athletes, as with many misinformed people, reduce or minimize their consumption of carbohydrates to aid definition and therefore eliminate vegetable products, avoiding fruit in particular under the erroneous conviction that it will either make them fat or at least impede the loss of fat to achieve muscle tone. The reason behind this is their belief that fructose, the sugar naturally present in fruit, converts easily into triglycerides, or body fat, but they ignoring the fact that the quantity of fructose in a piece of fruit is small and furthermore it contains other elements, like soluble fibre, that interact with the fructose to stop it from generating the formation of fat.
First of all it is worth noting that in large doses fructose can easily be converted in the liver into triglycerides, but it should also be pointed out that the fructose that must be avoided is not the fructose that naturally occurs in fruit, but that which exists in many processed foods, like corn syrup, which is widely used as a sweetener, and other forms of simple sugar such glucose itself.
The truth is that a medium sized apple contains around just 80 calories, as well as 170mg of potassium, 20g of carbohydrates, no fat or protein but 5g of fibre, half of which is the soluble kind that is the greatest protector of health. And don’t forget that like the majority of fruit and vegetables, around 80% of its mass is pure water.
It would take a lot of kilos of apples to make somebody fat.
And of course, if health authorities insist on advising the inclusion of various serves of fruit and vegetables each day it is because scientific evidence has proven that these foods have numerous beneficial properties for our health.

Beneficial Properties Of Apples
Many studies have shown that the consumption of fruit and vegetables has a protective effect against a wide variety of illnesses, from heart disease and degenerative diseases to cancer. In fact, the majority of new substances recognised as beneficial to health come from vegetable matter, which scientists have classified under the generic term phytonutrients, that is, nutrients from plants.
Amongst these they have identified substances of great significance in maintaining good health, such as polyphenols and other antioxidising agents like carotenoids, isoflavonoids and phenolic acids capable of protecting us against DNA cell damage that can lead to cellular mutations and cancer.
Antioxidants are of capital importance to health, as it is known that they provide control over oxidisation caused by free radicals, which are unstable molecules with an imbalance in their electron configuration that attack cell membranes in search of an electron to achieve the proper balance, thus compromising the structure and integrity of the cell membrane and permitting toxins and carcinogenic agents to penetrate the cells.
Antioxidants neutralise free radicals, almost always by donating an electron to stabilise their structures.
Phenols are amongst the most powerful antioxidants known and apples are very rich in them, so much so that it is estimated that 22% of those ingested in the average American diet comes from this fruit.
Moreover, although other vegetable foods also contain these substances, apples have the highest levels of free phenols, whereas they exist as compounds in other foods and the body must first break these down before they are active. Therefore, apples are more active in this sense because the phenols they contain are in free form.
In various laboratory studies on rats, where a quantity equivalent to between one and six apples per day for a human was included in their dietary programme, it was established that tumorous growths were diminished and that the animals were less likely to contract a form of cancer when exposed to various carcinogenic agents.
Studies on humans and apples also exist. For example, in one carried out in Hawaii researchers discovered that apples reduced the risk of contracting cancer in both men and women. Another study, this time carried out in vitro, showed that the proliferation of cancerous cells in the colon was prohibited by 43% when treated with an extract of apple peel and 29% when the extract came from the flesh of the fruit. And a Finnish study into the dietary habits of a broad cross-section of society showed that those who regularly ate apples were at less risk of heart attack or apoplexy compared to those who did not include this fruit in their diet.

The Benefits of Apples To Athletes
Recent studies have found that apples (as well as pears) improve respiratory system function and protect against asthma, curiously enough much more so than well known antioxidants like vitamins A, C and E or betacarotene.
It is established that those who eat numerous apples per day have a lung capacity and activity above the average and, of course, this would be an advantage for any athlete, because when the respiratory system is more efficient, breathing and the transport of oxygen is better and consequently, fatigue is delayed.
Numerous studies into obesity have shown that the consumption of apples, far from contributing to an excess of weight, actually helps in losing weight.
Furthermore, both apples and apple juice help reduce LDL, or bad cholesterol, thus helping to protect against cardiovascular problems and improve circulation, another function essential to optimum physical performance.
It is also worth pointing out that apples are ideal in dieting phases, because thanks to their high fibre content they produce a feeling of satiety, and this same fibre, of which 20% is water soluble pectin, slows the absorption of fast-acting simple carbohydrates. This reduces the release of insulin and consequently prevents fluctuations in energy levels and the hunger pangs this creates, as well as the risk of generating adipose tissue deposits due to excessive amounts of insulin.
As you can see, far from hindering definition in your dieting phase, apples actually contribute to achieving the desired results.
And although this has little to do with sport or physical performance, I would like to highlight the fact that studies exist showing that the presence of this fruit in your diet enhances skin quality, and scientists are also studying protective substances found in apples called procyandins because it appears that a type of these could help prevent male pattern baldness.
Let me point out that the majority of the antioxidant properties of apples come from the peel. For example, half a medium sized apple with its peel has the same antioxidant properties as 1500mg of vitamin C, despite that fact that the fruit contains no more than five or six milligrams of this vitamin.

In Conclusion
I’m not saying that owing to the consumption of apples you are going bring home Olympic gold or a Sandow statue as the next Mr. Olympia, far from it. But I can say that including this fruit in your daily diet will have many benefits for your health, and far from ruining your pre-contest diet it will actually help you stay trim and even improve your performance in the sport.
Oh, and this also holds for apples: two is better than one!