More Than Just a Fruit
The apple tree is responsible for saving so many lives; it’s astounding! And it all started way back in 1835. That’s when some students were visiting their professor’s estate, and it just so happened that he was digging up his apple orchard, though I cannot imagine why anyone would do such a thing. Europe had been experimenting with root barks for years, discovering many that could treat fevers, malaria, and other diseases. Well, these bright young students decided to take advantage of the uprooted apple tree and see what they could find in its bark. Man, oh man, was that a great idea! They discovered a chemical in the root bark of those apple trees called phlorizin. Many years later, in 1903, another chemist discovered that this molecule could normalize fasting and post-meal hyperglycemia in animals. Unfortunately, it didn’t work the same way in humans, but these findings eventually led to the development of almost all the effective oral diabetes medicines we have now! Yes, including Jardiance and Ozempic. That’s not all this discovery led to either! It has led to a vast reduction in mortality rates from heart failure and has improved treatments and life expectancy for those suffering from serious kidney disease!
Now, having said that, am I telling you that if you have diabetes or renal failure you need to go out and dig up your apple trees, scrape the root bark and take it to treat these conditions? Absolutely not! It won’t do you much good anyway. The reason it took so long to come up with the drugs that really help these is that it took that long for scientists to isolate one specific molecule in phlorizin. While phlorizin worked in animals, the balance of its action was off in humans, so they had to isolate the exact chemical in the root bark that acted in the gut to inhibit glucose uptake enough to do any good. And that took many more years.
However, don’t write this tree off as having given its all to science and now being just a pretty, edible fruit producer.
The fruit itself is a treasure trove of health-promoting benefits for our bodies. The fruit and its peel are rich in vitamins and compounds that promote healthy digestion and help regulate blood sugar. They also help reduce inflammation system-wide, lowering the risk of heart complications, arthritis, and many other conditions that arise in our bodies because of this inflammation.
The bark, and not just the root bark either, still contains phlorizin, and while we know it cannot treat heart disease and diabetes alone in its natural state, it can still reduce those risks.
The leaves are often consumed as tea or capsules because of the high antioxidant levels in the minerals they contain. As a matter of fact, the leaves are higher in calcium and potassium than the fruit is!
The pectin in apples acts as a prebiotic, feeding our good gut bacteria, and can be used to manage mild diarrhea or constipation.
Consuming apples with their skins can help regulate the immune system and protect brain health.
Apples can help you lose weight.
Apple Seed Extract (in alcohol) can also provide the benefits of all the various parts of the tree! Waste not, want not, don’t you know...
Drinking a warm cup of apple tea (you can serve it over ice as well) will help keep you hydrated through our hot summers and dry winters. It can improve the appearance of the face via its hydrating, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory properties, AND it’s high nutrient content (whew!). It can also improve your digestion and your heart health. Just a hint. BOIL YOUR OWN APPLES to make this tea. The apple juice you buy at the store will not work the same way, nor will running your apple through a juicer! And, if you don’t want to boil your apples, simply make the tea from apple leaves instead. You will get almost the same benefits as you would from the whole apple. Sometimes more. The mineral content in the leaves is around 3-5 times greater than the whole fruit, so a cup of apple leaf tea is like taking a well-rounded multi-vitamin every day.
And, should you manage to find yourself with any scrap pieces of this fruit, you can always make vinegar! It is truly one of the most nutritious, useful domesticated trees you can plant.
C. Shaw
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