Seeking Health

 Today, let's consider the humble apple. We all know the folk wisdom that "an apple a day keeps the doctor away". This insight is supported by all the evidence science has amassed that shows the apple is a food that contributes to health. But what is it about the apple that promotes health? Food composition tables tell us that the average apple contains a significant amount of the following nutrients: vitamin C, vitamin K, vitamin B6, potassium, dietary fibre and riboflavin. Also, it’s got smaller amounts of vitamin A, vitamin E, niacin, magnesium, phosphorus, copper, manganese, and a whole host of other nutrients. From this long list can we figure out what really matters about an apple?

Well Dr Rui Hai Liu got curious about this question, and he and his research team set about looking for the answer.

In studying the apple, Dr Liu and his research team began by focusing on vitamin C and its antioxidant effect. They found that 100 grams of fresh apples had an antioxidant, vitamin C-like activity equivalent to 1,500 milligrams of vitamin C (about three times the amount of a typical vitamin C supplement). When they chemically analysed that 100 grams of whole apple, however, they found only 5.7 milligrams of vitamin C, far below the 1,500 milligrams that the level of antioxidant activity associated with vitamin C indicated.

The vitamin C-like activity from 100 grams of whole apple was an astounding 263 times as potent as the same amount of the isolated chemical. Said another way, the specific chemical we refer to as vitamin C accounts for much less than 1% of the vitamin C-like activity in the apple – a miniscule amount.

The other 99-plus% of this activity is due to other vitamin C-like chemicals in the apple, the possibility of vitamin C to be much more effective in the context of the whole apple than it is when consumed in an isolated form, or both.

The process of nutrition is profoundly wholistic, in that the way the body uses a particular nutrient depends on what other nutrients we ingest along with it. If we just take an isolated vitamin C pill, we miss out on the cast of “supporting characters” that may give vitamin C its potency. Even if we add many of these characters into the pill too, we are still assuming that whatever else is in the apple and not in the pill is somehow unimportant.

The conclusion of Dr Liu’s study was that “natural antioxidants from fresh fruit could be more effective than a dietary supplement.”

Dr Liu’s subsequent research provided an even clearer picture of the mind-blowing complexity of a simple food like an apple. Once he discovered that an apple was far more powerful a vitamin C delivery system than it “should” have been, he wondered about the mechanisms that might explain that difference.

His lab focused on searching for the kinds of chemicals that might account for the rest of the vitamin C-like activity in apples. In the summary of their findings, they show that there is a treasure trove of such vitamin C-like compounds in apples. These include other antioxidants with names like quercetin, catechin, phlorizin and chlorogenic acid found only in plants, each which may exist in many forms within the apple. The list of these chemicals in apples is long, and likely reflects just the tip of the iceberg.

It’s as if the inside of the apple is bigger than it looks from the outside.

A follow on from Cath's previous videos about signs of nutritional deficiencies. She discusses how to maximise your diet, use superfoods and supplements to ensure you're properly nourished.