A Whole Lot Healthier

Choosing whole apples over apple juice may provide extra health benefits.

Whole fruit and fruit juices are easy ways to get your recommended daily intake of fruit. However, whole apples may have certain advantages over apple juice. Research suggests apples with the peels help inhibit LDL oxidation more consistently than juice does. Minimizing LDL oxidation may help deter the development of arterial plaques.

Few people consistently meet the recommended daily intake of fruits and vegetables. Sipping fruit juice is one way to get your daily fruit needs. However, juices often are high in simple sugars and calories, both of which may promote weight gain. They also lack the fiber and full nutritional punch of whole fruits. For example, whole apples are high in phytochemicals that may help reduce the risk of certain types of cancer, asthma, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease (CAD). They also are a good source of fiber. However, much of the fiber and phytochemicals resides in the peels. In fact, studies suggest apple peels contain two to six times more phenolic compounds than apple flesh and its juices. And in a recent study, whole apples inhibited LDL oxidation by 34 percent, but the degree to which apple juice inhibited LDL oxidation varied from 9 percent to 34 percent, depending on the brand. Get most of your fruit servings from whole fruits; use fruit juices to fill in the gaps.

Apple phytochemicals and their health benefits. Boyer, J., Liu, R. H., Nutrition Journal 2004 May 12;3(1):5.

USDA Database for the Flavonoid Content of Selected Foods. U.S. Department of Agriculture, March 2003.