The Lore of Nutrition - Part 1 - Apples
This guide will attempt to explain and explore food and nutrition, item by item building a large store of knowledge that will equip and enable you to know what you're eating and why.
From Vitamins to amino-acids we'll delve into how the body works well, what it needs and what will harm it. Akin to an operating manual you'd receive with a car, for your body.
So.. Apples! Currently belief about apples is that they're going to be pretty healthy, however also perhaps pretty sugary. Many underestimate just how easy sugar turns into fat. A trusted source once put it that fruit should be a treat like most people currently view chocolate.
I know fruit is better than fruit juice as the fiber of the fruit makes it break down slower. Other than that very little other knowledge of what one actually gets from an apple, vitamins?
So then, to the research!
The United States Department of Agriculture has this to say about apples; 'A typical apple serving weighs 242 grams and contains 126 calories with significant dietary fiber and modest vitamin C content, with otherwise a generally low content of essential nutrients."
Per 100 g (3.5 oz)
Energy 218kJ (52kcal)
Dietary fiber 2.4g
Vitamin A equiv.beta-carotenelutein zeaxanthin(0%)3 μg(0%)27 μg29 μg Thiamine (B1)(1%)0.017 mg Riboflavin (B2)(2%)0.026 mg Niacin (B3)(1%)0.091 mg Pantothenic acid (B5)(1%)0.061 mg Vitamin B6(3%)0.041 mg Folate (B9)(1%)3 μg Vitamin C(6%)4.6 mg Vitamin E(1%)0.18 mg Vitamin K(2%)2.2 μg
Calcium(1%)6 mg Iron(1%)0.12 mg Magnesium(1%)5 mg Manganese(2%)0.035 mg Phosphorus(2%)11 mg Potassium(2%)107 mg Sodium(0%)1 mg Zinc(0%)0.04 mg
Water 85.56 g Fluoride 3.3 µg
Universally speaking it seems wise to throughly rinse / wash any fruit veg under the tap so long as your water supply is good.
I think the best way to view food, and where many people or diets or guides fall down is they try to focus on only one aspect of food like calories or nutrition when best to look at in at least three or four ways.
So an apple, is typically say 130 calories. That's not too high in my opinion so it's medium calories. It however is high in sugars, so even though it's a fruit stuff and is made of fiber it means I'm going to be full of sugar so unless about to do some exercise for a while then not going to be all that suitable.
On the flip side though, http://www.nutrition-and-you.com/ says :
"This wonderful fruit is packed with rich phyto-nutrients that, in the true sense, indispensable for optimal health. Certain antioxidants in apple have several health promoting and disease prevention properties, and thereby, truly justifying the adage, “an apple a day keeps the doctor away.”"
Removing the skins of the apples might be not such a good idea according to livescience.com who in their article here on apples say that apples, high in vitamin C content keep 50% of that just under the skin of the apple.
So from what I can find so far, Apples should only really be occasional, like once a week or so.
It might be a surprise to many (it was at least to myself) to see the world's \1 producer of apples is China, producing, 37million apples in 2012, USA ranked second doesn't even come close with only 4.1 million produced.
I eat apples...
© 2015 mrblueishmouvesky