An Apple A Day!
The best apples are Delicious, scientists say
TORONTO (CP) -- An apple a day may keep the doctor away, but new research shows that when it comes to healthy eating, not all apples are created equal.
A study by scientists at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada to be published this week indicates that of the eight main varieties of apple grown in Ontario, the Red Delicious is the most nutritious.
Red Delicious apples contain more than five times as many antioxidants as Empire apples, the variety with the lowest antioxidant level, said the study's lead researcher, Rong Tsao.
"Redder apples are generally richer in antioxidants than pale coloured apples," Tsao said, explaining that antioxidants are the "good chemicals in fruits and vegetables that help us fight cancers and cardiovascular diseases.
"These are the compounds that are known to fight with the so-called free radicals in our body. The free radicals are the culprits of modern human chronic diseases."
The study is notable because it pinpoints for the first time the individual molecules that contribute most to antioxidant activities in apples. Those molecules were found to be much more prevalent in the skin of the apple than in the flesh of the fruit, leading Tsao to recommend Canadians put down their peelers and eat the whole apple.
Identifying those molecules will also help scientists such as Tsao as they try to produce new breeds of apples that could potentially contain more concentrated nutritional benefits.
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