This article explores how you can use apple crumble to fight cholesterol.
Dubbed as the silent killer, high cholesterol can quietly wreak havoc in your arteries, hiking your risk of heart disease and stroke. While many sweat treats like biscuits and cakes can be the very trigger for the fatty substance, apple crumble might be an exception. Dr Michael Mosley has shared that the core ingredient could reduce your bad cholesterol by a whopping 23 percent.
Speaking on his podcast Just One Thing, the doctor said: “It’s early afternoon and I’m a bit peckish.
“I’m about to grab a delicious snack that could improve my blood flow, boost my brain and trim my waistline. It’s not some exotic superfood. In fact, it’s an apple.”
However, these are not all of the benefits the crunchy, sweet fruit has to offer. Dr Mosley also shared that apples can bust your cholesterol levels.
What’s more, you could enjoy the cholesterol-lowering effects while eating something as delicious as apple crumble.
As apples come in all sorts of colours and shapes, the doctor invited an expert to help settle whether cooked apples offer the same benefits.
The podcast guest Dr Catherine Bondonno, Research Fellow at the Institute of Nutrition Research at Edith Cowan University in Western Australia, shared the reason why apples are “so good” comes down to their skin being packed with plant compounds called flavonoids.
“They’re actually produced by plants to protect them from stress so sunlight and disease,” she said.
What’s more, flavonoids, which can benefit your heart health, don’t lose their powers when you pop them into the oven.
Dr Mosley asked the guest expert: “I love an apple crumble. But will that destroy the flavonoid?”
She responded by saying: “No, we’ve actually tested this and we see the same flavonoid content before and after cooking. So that’s good news.”
This suggests that as long as you keep the skin on apples, you could incorporate the fruits in a variety of recipes and still see your cholesterol levels fall.
However, it’s still important to keep cholesterol-raising saturated fats, found in the likes of butter, cheese, sausages and more, in check.
Don’t just take the doctor’s word for it, there’s also research that highlights the effects of apples on cholesterol.
A year-long trial from Florida State University found that those who ate around 75 grams of dried apples a day were able to reduce their “bad cholesterol” by “23 percent”, the doctor shared in his podcast.
Looking at 160 middle-aged women, the study also linked weight loss to the small snack.
Furthermore, the guest expert also shared the exact type of apple that seems to be the best – it can be bought in the UK.
Dr Bondonno said: “I’ve screened over 91 apple selections for flavonoid composition. And there is a wide variation in the flavonoids present in apple varieties.
“The ones that we use in our studies are generally the Pink Lady.”
Dr Mosley added: “It seems that apple a day really does keep the doctor away and also keep your heart, gut, and even your waistline in good shape.”
