Juicing Apples for Heart Health

The cardiovascular system has a real busy job! It pumps 1,776 gallons of blood through your heart everyday. For this system to work – all aspects of it need to be working optimally. The veins, arteries, heart and blood quality all need to be in good shape. Eating apples have been shown in many studies to reduce the risk of heart disease in humans. This has been attributed to the high antioxidant levels found in apples

Antioxidants are needed to protect the heart, arteries and veins from the damage caused by free radicals. Free Radicals are unstable molecules caused by pollution, smoke and toxins, and are also naturally produced in the body through chemical reactions involved with digestion. Obtaining enough antioxidants from your diet is one key factor in protecting you from developing heart disease. So what antioxidants are found in apples?

Flavonoids
Flavonoids are a group of antioxidants found in abundance in the skins and pulp of apples. Some of these flavonoids can help the blood from becoming sticky by helping to reduce the aggregation of blood platelets. Other flavonoids have been show repeatedly to help reduce the risk of developing heart disease and to help the condition if it has developed.
Juicing Recipes for apples is a great way to get an abundance of these flavoniods in your diet!

Quercetin
Recent studies have shown that quercetin is beneficial for your heart. One study has shown that quercetin acts as an antioxidant specifically for protecting cholesterol from becoming oxidized and contributing to the “furring” up of arteries.

Catechin
Catechin is famous as the antioxidant found in green tea, but is also found in apples. Several studies conducted by Dutch scientists show that those who have a high intake of catechins have less risk of being affected by or dying from heart disease.

Making Apple Juicer Recipes for Your Heart.
Catechin, flavonoids and quercetin are primarily found in the skins and the pulp of apples. The only part of the apple I remove is the stem. I juice the whole apple to ensure I extract as much of the antioxidants as possible. Some people say it is better to eat the whole apple rather than juice it to ensure you get more antioxidants. However, when you juice apples, you don’t just juice one. You will need around 3-4 apples, depending on size, to get a glass of juice. But totally worth it!

Visit apple recipes for more juicing information about heart health and other conditions.