Spacelocker, Apples, and Health
Posted: Wednesday, October 14, 2009
by Gabriela Schmid
Spacelocker
Years ago, after dark on October 31, shrill cries of "Halloween Apples!" rang out in neighborhoods all over North America. The source: small children in masks and costumes, amped up on too much candy and adrenaline, lugging pillow cases that bulged with loot weighing almost as much as they did, and racing madly from door to door, desperate for even more candy. Candy was the goal then, but kids mostly got apples.
The apple is a member of the rose family and originated in Central Asia, where its ancestor still can be found in the wild. It is one of the most popular tree fruits with over 50 million tons grown around the world. China grows about a third of the world's apples.
Apples came to North America with the colonists in the 1600s.
The apple gets credit in Christian mythology as the fruit that Eve tempted Adam with that led to their eviction from the Garden of Eden. It seems that Adam was so eager to be led astray that a piece of the forbidden fruit lodged itself in his throat as madly scarfed it down. From this, the term "Adam's apple" arose.
From there, the apple began its slide down that slippery slope from a symbol for knowledge and immortality to temptation, the fall into mortal sin, and sin itself.
But by the 19th century in Wales, the apple found redemption. When people began to realize the health benefits that apples had to offer, the proverb "An apple a day keeps the doctor away" was born.
Research credits apples as a source of Vitamin C and other antioxidant compounds such as quercetin. Its fiber content helps regulate the bowel and reduces cholesterol by preventing reabsorption, which can reduce the risk of colon cancer. Because apples have no cholesterol, they help fight heart disease and control weight loss.
Research has also found that apple juice prevents cognitive decline performance that accompanies dietary and genetic deficiencies and aging. After all, if you're going to be a sinner, you might as well be healthy enough to enjoy it.
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