#2 Benefit: Memory-Improving
According to a study by the University of Massachusetts Lowell, the consumption of apples increases the production and amount of the neurotransmitter called acetylcholine in the brain.
Acetylcholine is a hormone with various tasks, one of them being the modulation of neuro-plasticity, which is the brain’s ability to change and build new structures.
Higher amounts of acetylcholine in the brain result in improved memory, and as a matter of fact, the treatment of choice for Alzheimer’s disease is to medicate with the objective of increasing the amount of acetylcholine in the brain to help slow down the mental decline of patients.
“The findings at present study show that consumption of antioxidant-rich foods such as apples and apple juice can help reduce problems associated with memory loss.”, concludes the UML research group.
#3 Benefit: Lower risk of Heart Attacks and Strokes
Heart attacks, strokes and arteriosclerosis all have a couple of things in common: a) they’re bad, really bad, b) they develop often due to an excess of LDL-cholesterol (“the bad cholesterol”).
Guess what? Apples were able to decrease the amount of LDL-cholesterol in subjects by 23 %.
That’s an incredible decrease: in therapy with patients suffering from high-cholesterol a decrease by 23% is highly desirable through medication. 29
Standard medications lower the LDL-cholesterol level by 18-50 %, bringing along however a whole set of devastating side effects. Apples don’t.