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Review
. 2023 Jun 20;11(9):4926-4947.
doi: 10.1002/fsn3.3487. eCollection 2023 Sep.

Does an apple a day keep away diseases? Evidence and mechanism of action

Yue Zhang  1 , Miao Zeng  1 , Xiaolu Zhang  1 , Qun Yu  1 , Wenyun Zeng  2 , Bin Yu  3 , Jiali Gan  1 , Shiwu Zhang  1   2 , Xijuan Jiang  1
Affiliations
Review

Does an apple a day keep away diseases? Evidence and mechanism of action

Yue Zhang et al. Food Sci Nutr. .

Abstract

Apples and their products exemplify the recently reemphasized link between dietary fruit intake and the alleviation of human disease. Their consumption does indeed improve human health due to their high phytochemical content. To identify potentially relevant articles from clinical trials, some epidemiological studies and meta-analyses, and in vitro and in vivo studies (cell cultures and animal models), PubMed was searched from January 1, 2012, to May 15, 2022. This review summarized the potential effects of apple and apple products (juices, puree, pomace, dried apples, extracts rich in apple bioactives and single apple bioactives) on health. Apples and apple products have protective effects against cardiovascular diseases, cancer, as well as mild cognitive impairment and promote hair growth, healing of burn wounds, improve the oral environment, prevent niacin-induced skin flushing, promote the relief of UV-induced skin pigmentation, and improve the symptoms of atopic dermatitis as well as cedar hay fever among others. These effects are associated with various mechanisms, such as vascular endothelial protection, blood lipids lowering, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antiapoptotic, anti-invasion, and antimetastatic effects. Meanwhile, it has provided an important reference for the application and development of medicine, nutrition, and other fields.

Keywords: apple; apple product; bioactive compound; disease; human health.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Chemical structures of representative phenolic compounds in apple fruits.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
The effects of apples and their products on people's health.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
The key signaling pathways and targets of apples and their products prevent and against diseases. The orange boxes indicate the mechanisms involved, and just below are their respective up‐ or downregulated targets (red, upregulated; blue, downregulated). The green boxes show the specific pathways involved in each mechanism.
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
Anticancer mechanism of apples and their products.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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