An Apple a Day Can Revitalize Your Love Life: Researchers

Thursday, 24 Jul 2014 06:04 PM

By Sylvia Booth Hubbard

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"An apple a day keeps the doctor away" has been a common saying for more than a century, and it turns out that people have been repeating it for good reason. Modern research shows that apples improve health in numerous ways, and the latest study found that apples can even boost a woman's sexual pleasure.

The study, which was published in Archives of Gynecology and Obstetrics, found that women who ate one or two apples a day had better sex lives than those who didn't eat apples. The researchers believe that high levels of polyphenols and antioxidants found in apples stimulate blood flow to the sexual organs and aid arousal. In addition, apples contain phloridzin, a phytoestrogen that's similar to the female sex hormone estradiol.

 

Apples fight many chronic health problems including:

 

Obesity. A Brazilian study published in the journal Nutrition found that women who ate apples while dieting lost more weight over 12 weeks than dieters who didn't eat apples. One reason could be that the high fiber found in apples promotes "satiety," meaning feeling fuller longer. Researchers from the University of Iowa found that ursolic acid, a molecule found in apple peels, protected mice from obesity by increasing their amount of energy-burning brown fat as well as augmenting their muscle mass. Another study of healthy adults found that when they ate an apple 15 minutes before a meal, they reduced their total caloric intake by 15 percent.

 

Cancer. Researchers believe that the phytochemicals in apples fight cancer. Researchers at Mayo Clinic found that the antioxidant quercetin, which is abundant in apples, stops changes in prostate cells that lead to cancer, slowing or preventing their growth. Chinese researchers found that human prostate cells treated with quercetin died within 48 hours. A Hawaiian study found that people whose diets were high in quercetin lowered their risk of developing lung cancer by 40 to 50 percent, and a Cornell study using rats found that eating apples daily reduced breast cancer by up to 44 percent.

 

Lung diseases. Several studies have shown that eating apples improves lung function and lowers the risk of respiratory diseases including emphysema, bronchitis, and asthma. A Finnish study attributed a lower risk of asthma to the flavonoids quercetin, hesperetin, and naringenin contained in apples. A study from the Netherlands associated higher lung function and a lower risk of obstructive pulmonary disease in people who ate five or more apples a week.

 

Diabetes. The same Finnish study that found a decreased risk of lung disease also found a significant decrease in the risk of Type 2 diabetes among people who ate apples. They attributed the decrease to a high intake of quercetin found in apple peels. A study at Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital found that people who ate at least two servings a week of specific fruits, including apples, grapes, and blueberries, reduced their risk of diabetes by up to 23 percent.

 

Strokes. A review of 20 studies published in the journal Stroke found that eating the equivalent of two small apples a day (a total of about 200 grams) cut stroke risk by almost a third. Part of the benefit may come from pectin, a form of soluble fiber found in apples that lowers blood pressure and levels of bad cholesterol.

 

Heart attacks. A study at University of California at Davis found that eating two apples a day reduces the artery-clogging damage caused by LDL ("bad") cholesterol. Researchers at the UK's University of Oxford calculated that if every adult aged 50 and over ate an apple each day, deaths from heart attacks and strokes would be cut to the same degree as if everyone aged 50 and older who was not taking statins was prescribed the cholesterol-lowering drugs. Lead researcher Dr. Adam Briggs said, "The Victorians had it about right when they came up with their brilliantly clear and simple public health advice: 'An apple a day keeps the doctor away.'"

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