As summer turns to autumn, orchards all over Britain are laden with ripe, juicy fruit, ready to pick – and that’s great news for our health. While it’s true that apples, pears, plums and damsons tend to have lower levels of the nutrients typically found in fruit, such as vitamin C, they offer valuable fibre and naturally occurring phytochemicals. Here’s why you should include them in your diet…
“Eating apples has a similar effect to taking statins”
HEART-FRIENDLY FIBRE
Apples, pears, plums and damsons all provide a specific type of soluble fibre called pectin (the stuff that sets jam). This binds with cholesterol in the digestive system, allowing it to be removed from the body rather than absorbed into the bloodstream. As a result, blood cholesterol levels are kept under control, which is valuable, as raised levels increase the risk of heart disease.
It’s not just the pectin in orchard fruit that’s beneficial for our heart. They’re also loaded with polyphenols such as flavonoids, which have been linked with better heart health. For example, one study of almost 75,000 adults found that eating apples and pears reduced the risk of stroke by 11 per cent. Another study found that eating an apple a day as part of a healthy, balanced diet had a similar effect to taking statins, a common medication used to lower blood cholesterol, when it comes to preventing deaths from vascular disease.
A CHECK ON BLOOD SUGAR LEVELS