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Apples and apple juice could have the same heart-protecting properties as the oft-touted purple grapes and grape juice, according to a new study published in the April 2008 issue of Molecular Nutrition and Food Research. In fact, researchers observed that processing the fruit into juice has the potential to increase the bioavailability of the naturally occurring compounds and antioxidants found in the whole fruit.
Researcher Kelly Decorde from France's Universite Montpelier and the rest of the European research team used a variety of established analytical techniques to evaluate how effective the fruit was in reducing aortic plaque, the accumulation of fatty tissue that results in the hardening of the arterial blood vessels around your heart. Significant decreases were seen with the whole fruits and juices of both apples and purple grapes.
Researchers noted that "these results show for the first time that long-term consumption of antioxidants supplied by apples and purple grapes, especially phenolic compounds, prevents the development of atherosclerosis in hamsters, and that the processing can have a major impact on the potential health effects of a product."
More about the health-boosting effects of apples:
Eat Apples, Drink Apple Juice to Lower Risk for Metabolic Syndrome
Have an Apple, It's Nothing to Wheeze At
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