In ancient Greece a man signaled his interest in a woman by tossing her an apple. If she caught it, that indicated receptivity. In medieval Germany men ate apples drenched in the perspiration of the object of their affections. An even earlier use of apples to entice occurred in the fabled Garden of Eden, when Adam and Eve were warned not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

In modern times various health effects are often attributed to eating apples, many of which have direct relevance to bodybuilding progress, not to mention health maintenance. Apples can ensure satiety, thus making dieting not quite as arduous as usual. Oxidation that exercise produces is linked to delayed muscle recovery as well as increased post-training muscle soreness. Apples are high on the list of antioxidant-rich foods. One study found that they were second to cranberries in blocking oxidant effects, and apples have the significant advantage of being more portable and accessible than cranberries.

Many bodybuilding diets have a dearth of fruits and vegetables. The usual recommended minimum is five servings a day; the optimum is nine to 11 servings. Fruits and vegetables are rich in phytonutrients. Thousands of such chemicals exist, and the majority are not available in supplemental form. So chemicals found in fruits and vegetables are a major source of protection from degenerative diseases ranging from cancer to cardiovascular disease to age-related loss of brain function.

Yet bodybuilders and athletes avoid them in the mistaken notion that they promote bodyfat or inhibit fat loss. They think, for example, that fruit is high in fructose, a natural sugar. True, most fruits contain small amounts of fructose, but they also contain elements, such as soluble fiber, that interact with fructose. Besides, the fructose in fruit isn’t the problem. The bad guy is the processed form, devoid of fiber and chock full of additional simple sugars, such as glucose. You get that combo in high-fructose corn syrup. Abominations like that are a far cry from the natural sugars found in apples.

You’d have to eat a heck of a lot of apples to get fat. One medium apple contains a mere 80 calories. It also supplies 170 milligrams of potassium, 22 grams of carbohydrate, no fat and five grams of fiber, of which 50 percent is the highly protective soluble form. Like most fruits and vegetables, apples are primarily water—about 80 percent.

The Protective Ingredients in Apples

Numerous studies have linked a generous intake of fruits and vegetables with prevention of killer diseases, mainly because of the polyphenols and other active ingredients. Protective compounds include carotenoids, such as beta-carotene; isoflavonoids, found in soy; and phenolic acids, which protect against the damage to cellular DNA that leads to mutations and cancer.

Flavonoids function as potent antioxidants in the body. That’s significant because out-of-control oxidation produces free radicals—unpaired electrons that attach themselves to stable electrons in cellular membranes, compromising the structural integrity of membranes and opening the door to toxins and carcinogens. Flavonoids neutralize free radicals, often by contributing an electron and thus stabilizing cell structure.

Americans get 22 percent of their phenolics from the apples they eat. Unfortunately, they eat an average of 19 pounds of apples per year, compared to the typical European intake of 46 pounds. A Finnish study of 10,000 people showed that flavonoid intake was positively linked to lower mortality levels. Not only are apples rich sources of phenolic compounds, but they also contain the highest levels of free phenolics, the most active forms. Many other phenolic compounds bond to other substances and must be released in the body to become active. So apples are a rapidly acting antioxidant.

Several studies have specifically associated apple intake with reduced cancer risk, particularly lung cancer, the number one cause of cancer deaths. One study of 77,000 women and 47,000 men found a 21 percent reduced risk of cancer in women (but not men) who had a high fruit and vegetable intake—and that was on one apple each day.

In Hawaii scientists found that apples offered protective effects against cancer in both sexes. That study showed a 40 to 50 percent lowered risk of lung cancer in subjects having the highest intake of apples, onions and white grapefruit. It found no protective effects from red wine or black or green tea.

A study published in the journal Nature described the treatment of colon cancer cells with apple extract. Proliferation of the cancer was inhibited when they were exposed to the apple extract, and cancer cells treated with 50 milligrams of apple extract (from the peel) were inhibited by 43 percent. The apple flesh extract inhibited the cancer by 29 percent.

In another study rats were exposed to a known carcinogen and then fed the human equivalent of one, three or six apples a day over 24 weeks. Those rats proved 44 percent less likely to have breast tumors.

Since excess oxidation plays a major role in cardiovascular disease, it’s not surprising that fruits such as apples also offer protection in that arena. A study of 40,000 women found that those who ate foods rich in flavonoids showed a 35 percent reduced risk of cardiovascular disease. Women who ate apples showed a 13 to 22 percent decrease in cardiovascular disease.

Back in Finland, research subjects who ate the most apples showed a significantly reduced risk of stroke compared to those who didn’t eat apples. Apples and wine also protected against cardiovascular disease in a study of 35,000 Iowa women, mainly because of the polyphenol compounds catechin and epicatechin. Also found in teas, the polyphenols in apples may be more easily absorbed in the body.

The protective nutrients in apples tend to lower excessive inflammatory reactions in the body, which means eating apples offers protection against such inflammatory diseases as asthma. Australian researchers found that apples and pears offered protection against asthma and bronchial hypersensitivity, while other fruits and vegetables tested did not. Nor did specific antioxidant nutrients, such as vitamins C, E, A or beta-carotene. A study of 13,000 adults in the Netherlands found that eating apples positively affected lung function. Those who ate five or more apples daily had a significantly higher rate of lung function—a clear benefit to anyone engaged in intense training, since more efficient breathing can delay fatigue. Several studies show that eating apples not only aids weight and fat loss but can offset diseases linked to obesity, such as type 2 diabetes. Among the 10,000 people in the Finnish study, there was decreased incidence of diabetes in those who regularly ate apples. A particular apple flavonoid, quercetin, was also associated with this aspect.

A study of 400 overweight, middle-aged women in Brazil compared eating oatmeal cookies to eating apples and pears, three times a day for 12 weeks. Those on the fruits showed a significant weight loss after 12 weeks, while those on the cookies had zero weight loss. The fruit eaters also had lower blood glucose levels than the cookie eaters.

Antioxidant Activity of Apples

Most of an apple’s antioxidant activity comes from its peel. One medium apple with the peel intact equals the antioxidant activity of 1,500 milligrams of vitamin C. Yet the average apple contains only 5.7 milligrams of vitamin C, which accounts for only 0.4 percent of its total antioxidant activity. That high antioxidant activity accounts for its protective effects against the growth of tumors. Both apples and apple juice help prevent cardiovascular disease by inhibiting the oxidation of low-density-lipoprotein cholesterol, the primary type circulating in the blood. LDL is hazardous only when oxidized: Apple peels showed 34 percent inhibition of LDL oxidation, and the pulp produced a 21 percent inhibition, pointing to the greater level of antioxidants found in the peel.

One study used a type of lab rat bred for its propensity for obesity. The subjects got 20 percent dried apple extract as part of their diet, which led to a 22 percent drop in total cholesterol levels, along with a whopping 70 percent decrease in LDL levels and an increase in protective high-density lipoprotein. The rats also showed decreased accumulation of fat in their hearts and livers, lowered oxidative effects and improved kidney function. The authors noted that although the apple extract was rich in fiber, which helps lower blood fats, the other improvements were more likely related to the polyphenol content of the apples. The rats did show increased cholesterol excretion after eating the apple extract. Another study showed that compared to pears and peaches, apples were superior in lowering elevated blood cholesterol.

Apples may also help preserve brain function, as shown in a recent study. When aged rats were given apples or apple juice, their performance in navigating mazes improved, a sign of improved brain function. The antioxidant activity of apples also offsets a buildup of beta-amyloid, a protein associated with degenerative brain disease. The rats’ dietary intake was equivalent to a human’s intake of two to three cups a day of apple juice or two to four apples a day.

Among the protective compounds in apples are procyandins (one type may prevent male-pattern baldness), catechin, epicatechin, phloridzin and quercetin conjugates. The quercetin compound exists only in the peel and may explain the higher antioxidant activity of the peel than the pulp. In fact, apple peels contain two to six times more phenolic compounds than pulp. The polyphenols epicatechin and procyandin B2 contribute the greatest antioxidant activity, with procyandins accounting for 60 percent of the antioxidant activity in the peel and 56 percent in the pulp.

Research has shown that types of apples also vary in their overall antioxidant content, with Rome Beauty, Fuji and Red Delicious the most noteworthy. As Cornell University apple researcher R.H. Liu notes, “Eating fruits and vegetables is better than taking a vitamin pill. You can obtain enough antioxidants from food without worrying about toxicity. The combination of phytochemicals plays a very important role in antioxidant and anticancer activity, and the real benefits come from a phytochemical mixture.”

Flavonoids are hard for the body to absorb. Yet apples and other fruits show undeniable health benefits. When researchers from the Linus Pauling Institute in Oregon did a series of experiments to isolate the protective factor in apples, they found that the natural fructose in apples increases plasma levels of uric acid, a natural antioxidant. While excessive uric acid levels are linked to car-diovas-cular disease and gout, the plasma levels of uric acid induced by eating apples did not reach pathological levels but did offer significant antioxidant protection. Other scientists still think that the active ingredients in apples are the flavonoids and polyphenols.

Apples can help with dieting because they’re are a low-glycemic-index fruit (38 G.I.), probably because of their high fiber content. The soluble fiber in apples, which is 20 percent pectin, slows the absorption of fast-acting carbs. That reduces insulin release, with the net effect of increasing satiety while preventing rapid drops in blood glucose from excess insulin release that would increase hunger.

These days, tossing an apple at a girl you like would probably earn either a slap or an arrest. Better to eat that apple and garner its considerable health and bodybuilding benefits.

References

1 Oliveira, M.C., et al. (2003). Weight loss associated with a daily intake of three apples or three pears among overweight women. Nutrition. 19:253-56.

2 Aprikian, O., et al. (2002). Lyo-philized apple counteracts the development of hypercholesterolemia, oxidative stress, and renal dysfunction in obese Zucker rats. J Nutr. 132:1969-1976.

3 Ortiz, D., et al. (2004). Apple juice prevents oxidative stress induced by amyloid-beta in culture. J Alzheimer’s Dis. 6:27-30.