Apples are not just crunchy, sweet and satisfying. As part of a smart diet, they can help protect against serious diseases, including heart disease, diabetes, cancer and more. Consider them your healthy secret weapon.
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5 Health Benefits of Apples
5 Health Benefits of Apples
Apples are not just crunchy, sweet and satisfying. As part of a smart diet, they can help protect against serious diseases, including heart disease, diabetes, cancer and more. Consider them your healthy secret weapon.
Laurie S. Herr
Updated September 26, 2021
Reviewed by Dietitian Jessica Ball, M.S., RD
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apple peanut butter with cinnamon
You've heard it a zillion times: "An apple a day keeps the doctor away." Turns out there's more truth to that than you might think. Studies show apples have powerful health benefits, particularly when it comes to fighting chronic diseases that kill millions of people each year. Here's a short list of how eating more apples can help keep you healthy, along with some apple-licious ways to add them to your meals.
Related: How to Choose the Perfect Apples for Eating Fresh, Salads, Baking and Applesauce
Apple Nutrition
The nutrition varies slightly between the different apple varieties, but not all that much. Here's the nutrition breakdown for 1 medium apple:
95 calories
0 g protein
0 g fat
25 g carbohydrates
4 g fiber
8 mg vitamin C
98 IU vitamin A
195 mg potassium
Apples are high in water content (they're 85 percent water) and rich in fiber (a medium apple contains 4 grams, or about 16 percent of your daily value), two things you need to feel full. Apples have one other feel-full benefit: They take time to eat. Foods you can gobble down quickly tend to leave you hungry, so you end up eating more.
Apples also have a low glycemic index, which means your blood sugar levels don't spike when you eat them. So while a rosy Red Delicious or sunny Honeycrisp might taste amazingly sweet, your body is able to process the sugar in a manageable way. And because apples are both sweet and filling, snacking on an apple can be a smart way to respond to cravings. Just be sure to eat the whole fruit, peel and all. The fiber will help keep you satisfied.
5 Health Benefits of Apples
- Protects your heart
Apple Cinnamon Quinoa Bowl
Pictured Recipe: Apple-Cinnamon Quinoa Bowl
Multiple studies show apples are good for your ticker-in multiple ways. Their high fiber content has been shown to help improve cholesterol levels (lowering bad LDL cholesterol and increasing good HDL cholesterol). A new small clinical trial found subjects who ate 2 apples a day for 8 weeks had significantly lower LDL cholesterol levels than those who didn't eat the fruit. The researchers cite apples' fiber, but also polyphenols—you benefit from whole fruit's nutrients working together.
A review of data published by Florida State University also found that people who ate whole fruits-including apples-were less likely to develop high blood pressure. And the Women's Health Study showed that women who ate apples over the seven-year study period had up to a 22 percent reduced risk of heart disease. Finally, a Dutch study found that eating apples and pears was associated with a 52 percent lower risk of stroke-thanks to their high fiber and a flavonoid called quercetin.
