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Apple a Day Gets Rid of Doctor and More
By Fern
Garber
WebMD Medical News |
Reviewed By Michael Smith, MD
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Sept. 13, 2002 -- An apple a day may keep more than the
doctor away. In fact, it may keep a whole host of diseases away, too -- from
heart disease and asthma to cancer.
People eating foods rich in a variety of
flavonoids -- plant
products that act like antioxidants -- were less likely to have heart
disease, stroke, and asthma. Type 2 diabetes also appeared to be less common
in this group. Plus, men that ate
flavonoids had less lung and prostate
cancers, says lead researcher Paul Knekt, PhD, of the National Public Health
Institute in Helsinki, Finland.
Flavonoids come from a variety of foods. In this study, the
flavonoids that the researchers were studying are most abundant in oranges,
apples, grapefruit, onions, white cabbage, berries, and juices. Flavonoids
are also found in tea and wine, but the researchers didn't study these two
items.
Flavonoids are effective in stopping oxidation -- the
process in which cell-damaging substances called free radicals accumulate.
Apples and onions were found to have the highest concentration of
flavonoids.
The study, in the September 2002 issue of the American
Journal of Clinical Nutrition, examined more than 10,000 men and women.
After completing an initial questionnaire, the participants were followed
for 28 years.
Source:
http://my.webmd.com/content/Article/50/40396.htm
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