Superfood Highlight: Apple Peel Powder

Does an Apple a Day Keep the Doctor Away?

We all know the saying, “an apple a day keeps the doctor away”. Apples are an excellent source of Vitamin C, also making them rich in antioxidants. But did you know that almost 40% of the antioxidants in apples are found in the skin?! If you read our blog post this week, we talked about the ORAC value given to foods that determine their antioxidant content. Apples score a modest ORAC value of 3,049, however this number drops to 2,573 when we remove the peel! Dr. Michael Gregor, author of New York Times Best Seller, ‘How Not To Die’ recently came out with a video in which he discussed the benefits, uses and healing power of apple peel powder.

Overall Health and Wellbeing

For a long time we’ve associated the regular consumption of apples with reducing the risk of cancer and in general, increasing your lifespan. Dr. Gregor wanted to see if there was more than just a correlation between consuming apples and overall health and wellbeing. He looked into studies done on the benefits of eating apples and found that in one study performed on athletes, they found that consuming an apple prior to physical activity had the same effect as consuming caffeinated beverages.

Apple Nutrient Breakdown

Dr. Gregor went further to discuss the nutrient breakdown of the entire apple and found that the beneficial apple peel contains high concentrations of compounds that greatly increase the phytochemical content and antioxidant activity of foods.

What this means in simple terms is that nutrition in apple skin with all its benefits helps to prevent chronic disease.

 Many of us have also heard that carcinogens, as in cancer forming compounds, are formed during the cooking process of meat products. This has been a big push behind many people abandoning animal products and living a vegan lifestyle. These compounds have also been discussed as a potential contributor to the development of neurological diseases such as Parkinson’s disease. For those of you who aren’t ready to give up your meat, Dr. Gregor has found a solution! (sort of). No, we’re not about to tell you to start eating your meat raw, since studies have shown that these compounds are only formed during the cooking process. Rather, according to Dr. Gregor,  studies have shown that there are uses for apple peels to reduce the level of these neurotoxins and carcinogens in HALF, by first marinating your meat with dried apple peel powder.

Heterocyclic amines (HCA) are an example of one of the neurotoxins that are linked to human diseases. In order to reduce the risks associated with consuming HCA’s you need to reduce your exposure to them, and this can be done by adding HCA blocking ingredients to the cooking process, such as apple peel powder!

However, for all the vegans or non-meat eaters out there, don’t think that the benefits of consuming apple skin powder, including all the uses for apple peels, have escaped you! Studies have shown that one of the benefits of apple peel powder is that it contains powerful anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties that you too can benefit from! Dr. Gregor discussed a study done on individuals suffering from chronic joint pain in which they were given 4.25 grams of dried apple peel powder daily for 12 weeks. The study found that, due to nutrition in apple skin, pain scores in these individuals dropped significantly as the weeks went on, and many of them also found an improvement in their overall range of motion!

Final Thoughts

We think it’s safe to say that the saying is at least partly true, an apple a day,  with all that nutrition in apple skin, really can keep the doctor away, but maybe it just needs updating. From now on let's see if “A spoonful of apple peel powder a day, keeps cancer and disease at bay.”

To view our Organic Apple Peel Powder click here & See the full video by Dr. Gregor here!