Apple A Day Not So Safe

Apples used to be my favorite fruit. High in fiber and rich in b-complex vitamins, apples seemed like a very versatile fruit to add to my regimen of daily fruits and vegetables. I remember apples being the first fruit that I would reach for as I left the house for highschool each day.

However, it was not until I went to a functional medicine seminar with my dad that I realized that apples, when not bought organic, can be detrimental to both brain and overall health. Don't get me wrong, eating apples has been correlated with a reduced onset of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. Natural, organic apples are excellent for overall health. However, it is the pesticides and herbicides, primarily glyphosates, that are damaging our immune systems.

Apples contain more pesticides than any other fruit or vegetable. Surely, an apple a day no longer keeps the doctor away. As many as 80% of apples grown in the US have a chemical called diphenylamine sprayed on them, a known neurotoxin, which breaks down into cancer-causing nitrosamines. Increased levels of nitrosamines are linked to increased incidence of both Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease.

A nifty trick that I learned in my study of human physiology and biochemistry is that vitamin C breaks down nitrosamines. Nitrosamines are formed in acidic conditions, such as those afforded by stomach acid, but vitamin C inhibits their formation, by converting nitrite to nitric oxide. So, next time you are exposed to nitrosamines, try taking a vitamin C supplement.

Because of the neurotoxicity of apples, it is extremely important to buy organic apples. All things considered, if you are not able to buy anything else organic, at least buy organic apples.

Just as each person is a unique individual, we each have our own body burden for toxic chemicals. It is like a glass that is being filled. Each person's glass is filled at different rates and each person's glass is a different size. We are constantly being bombarded with chemicals each day. Once the glass overflows, it is like falling down the waterfall that I talked about in an earlier post. This is why it is important to detox the chemicals currently in the glass and limit the rate of new chemicals. Due to genetics, we can not change the size of our glass, but we can at least limit the burden of toxic chemicals that we are subjected to each day.

-Sean

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