CHRONIC DISEASE STUDIES

Research gives apples an all-around thumbs up. Studies find that apple flavonoids may lower the risk of developing a wide array of chronic diseases.

Researchers at the National Public Health Institute in Helsinki, Finland reported that components found in apples may keep the doctor away by reducing the risk of many chronic diseases, including heart disease, cancer, stroke, type two diabetes and asthma.

Their research was based on 10,054 Finnish men and women that began in 1966. They sought to study the potential association between intake of the flavonoids class of plant-based “phytonutrients” and reduced risk of several chronic diseases. “Of all the main flavonoids sources, apple intake was associated with (a reduced risk of) almost all of the chronic diseases considered,” wrote Dr. Paul Knekt.

According to analysis of an extensive body of data over many years, those study participants who ate the most apples and the flavonoid quercetin had the lowest risk of total mortality – that is, they had the lowest risk of dying of any cause during the decades-long study.

High consumption of quercetin and especially quercetin-rich apples was associated with the lowered risk of many chronic diseases.