Boost Your Health with This Icon

The whole "apple a day" saying gets an upgrade when you choose the right apple -- and the right one isn't an obscure variety that grows in only one part of the country. It's the good old Red Delicious. When researchers tested its nutrient power against seven different apple varieties, they found this icon to be the highest in two powerful flavonoids (epicatechin and procyanidin, to be exact; don't worry, we won't quiz you on the pronunciation later). These may help reduce the risk of heart disease, cancer, and other problems.

The flavonoids are especially abundant in the apple peels, so be sure you eat the whole apple, skin and all -- wash it thoroughly under running water with a vegetable brush to remove wax and contaminants. The bottom line: Any apple is good, but certain ones are even better.

It also pays to be choosy about your apple juice. Depending on how much pectin is removed during processing, apple juice is either completely translucent or a bit murky. Clear apple juice goes through extra processing, which appears to zap a lot of the juice's beneficial nutrients, especially the procyanidins, one of the flavonoid powerhouses found in whole apples. So the cloudy stuff is what you want to reach for. Plus, when researchers tested how well various apple juices mopped up cell-damaging free radicals, cloudy juice came out ahead again.