Want to live longer? Eat apples

Some earlier studies have established potential benefits of an apple in fighting colon cancer as well as Alzheimer’s disease.

Now, researchers from the Chinese University of Hong Kong have reported the first evidence that a healthful antioxidant substance in apples can extend the average lifespan by 10 percent, reports the Daily Mail.

Apple antioxidants helpful in boosting longevity
In the latest research, scientists from the Chinese University of Hong Kong linked the fruit with a longer life in fruit flies, which share many genes with humans despite their tiny size.

A previous study with other test animals highlighted the potential of an apple antioxidant in extending average lifespan.

In this report, Zhen-Yu Chen and colleagues from the Chinese University of Hong Kong studied whether different apple antioxidants, known as polyphenols, could show the same effect in fruit flies.

In the current study, the fruit flies were either fed normally or had an apple extract added.

Study findings
The researchers found that the flies whose food was supplemented with apple polyphenols lived longer than those who were fed normally.

More precisely, flies on normal diet lived an average of 50 days, five days fewer than those who were fed the apple extract.

In addition to prolonging the average lifespan of fruit flies by ten times, the apple polyphenols also helped preserve their ability to walk, climb, and move about, according to the Daliy Mail, citing the report in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry reports.

Furthermore, the apple extract also slashed levels of various biochemicals found in older fruit flies and linked to age-related deterioration.

Theory behind the study
According to the Chinese researchers, harmful substances, known as free radicals, are generated in our body. These free radicals, they believe, lead to undesirable changes related to ageing and a host of diseases.

The antioxidants in the extract, on the other hand, are assumed to mop up these damaging free radicals.

The antioxidants that can combat this damage are often found in fruits and vegetables, especially brightly coloured foods like tomatoes, broccoli, blueberries, and apples, suggest the researchers.

The latest findings also support another study in which women who regularly ate apples were 13-22 percent less likely to suffer heart attacks and strokes.

The study is published in ACS’s Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.