The benefits of an apple!

I`m giving you another tit-bit based on research on apples being done by a Cornell University food scientist because if we eat things we like we might realize that it's not everything that's good for us that taste awful....who doesn't love an apple?
And there are many varieties to choose from. So apart from keeping the doctor away it helps us keep healthy and look at it this way, we need to be healthy as it makes no sense for us to add years to our life and we can`t enjoy them. We need to add more "life" to our years.........
The apple is one way of doing that! Can you imagine they are saying apple consumption heightens the effect of chemotherapy drugs?

A traditional part of the Thanksgiving feast, apples are Americans’ second favorite fruit (the first is bananas). They are also one of the many plant-based foods associated with lower cancer risk. With support from the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR), Cornell University food scientist Rui Hai Liu has conducted a steady stream of research for almost a decade demonstrating how apples may contribute to fighting cancer.
Some population studies suggest that high apple consumption leads to a range of health benefits, such as reduced risk of cancers and heart disease. Although apples have long been considered a healthy food, it has only been in recent years that this fruit has stimulated fresh interest in the lab with its rich supply of phenolics, a class of phytochemicals well studied for their health benefits.
The popularity of apples also makes them an appealing fruit to study, said Rui Hai Liu, MD, PhD, an associate professor at Cornell University who began studying the health benefits of apples in 2000. For Americans, 22 percent of all fruit phenolics consumed are reportedly from apples. “I’m interested in the health benefits of fruits and vegetables, and when you look at all the fruits and vegetables we saw the apple was rich in phenolic compounds with potent anti-proliferative properties – it was due to be studied,” said Dr. Liu.
Preventing Cancer Development
In one study, Dr. Liu and his colleague identified 13 compounds in apple peel that either inhibited the growth or led to cancer cell death in liver, breast and colon cancer cells. All the compounds are triterpenoids, substances widespread in plants that exhibit anti-inflammatory and anti-carcinogenic properties.
This year, Dr. Liu conducted several lab studies investigating how fresh apples and apple extract act against breast tumors. For example, a study published in The Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry showed that animals fed higher amounts of apple extract ended up with fewer breast tumors. The expression of several compounds related to cancer development also decreased with increasing apple extracts.
For colon cancer, a laboratory study has yielded clues as to how apples may prevent key stages of cancer development. Compared to non-treated cells, colon cancer cells treated with apple extract showed decreased DNA damage and an enhanced protective barrier, which blocks carcinogens. Also, the potential to metastasize was inhibited in the treated cells.
Apples and cancer prevention was one of the topics at AICR’s research conference. To read about this presentation and others, visit AICR’s new blog.
Another piece of apple research focuses on how apples may bolster the effects of chemotherapeutic drugs. A laboratory study found that apple extract can block the actions of a protein group that can lead to cancer cells becoming resistant to chemotherapy drugs.
The protein group, nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-KB), is involved with cell proliferation and can be spurred into action by cancer drugs. In a recent study, Dr. Liu measured the effects of apple extract on NF-KB in human breast cancer cells. Along with the extract, consisting of apple flesh and peel, the researchers tested several phytochemicals, including resveratrol and curcumin. Only apple extract and curcumin significantly blocked NF-KB in breast cancer cells.
As this study and others show, “research is pointing to the fact there is not one single phytochemical that supplies apples’ anti-cancer properties,” said Dr. Liu. “It’s the whole apple.” But don’t just eat apples; variety is best. “The thousands of phytochemicals in fruits and vegetables can be looked at as a team.”

Excerpted from a story in ScienceNow