Friday, July 31, 2009

The Amazing Health Benefits of Drinking Apple Juice

By May Townton

Juicing and drinking fruit juices are a superb way to get your daily allowances of fruit and vegetables. They are becoming more and more popular as part of health and fitness regimes. A particularly common and nutritious fruit to juice are apples. There are many tasty varieties of apples which can produce as many different blends of juice.

Apple juice is known to help with the digestive system and help in the functioning of the kidneys. In the gastrointestinal tract, apple juice has very effective cleansing properties and so makes the juice very popular. It is also able to help detoxify and purify the bloodstream and is useful as a general tonic for the liver and skin.

There are about 16 calories per ounce of apple and they contain large amounts of vitamins such as thiamine, vitamin B6, carotene and riboflavin. It is a common myth that apples contain high quantities of vitamin C. Although it does contain some of this vitamin it is not found in high concentrations.

The concentrations of vitamin C can vary quite considerably between different types of apple which can contain anywhere between 2 mg per hundred ounces to 35 mg. Varieties that have a lot of this vitamin include Bramley's, Golden Noble, and Ontario.

Fruits like oranges and lemons are the most vitamin C rich fruits commonly available. However, apples contain more minerals and antioxidants, like tannic acid.

When freshly made, apple has a tendency to oxidize very quickly and become discolored. This can be prevented or reduced by adding some freshly squeezed lemon juice to the drink and refrigerating. The lemon also adds extra taste to the juice.

Polyphenols are another chemical that are found naturally in apples. Ongoing researching is pointing to the fact that these chemicals may help in the prevention of the dementia causing illness, Alzheimers disease. It has also been suggested that apples could reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease as they contain chemicals similar to those in red wine and tea which help in the breakdown of bad cholesterol.

Apples could be considered a wonder fruit as they are not only a tasty, healthy food, that kids love, but drinking them in a juice can provide a significant boost to your health.

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