The Healthiest Apple

Below is an approximation of this video’s audio content. To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video.

You also may remember how the USDA measured the antioxidant content of various varieties of apples. Red Delicious shot to #1, with Granny Smith, in a surprise upset, taking the #2 slot.

But people kept asking me, “What about Cortland? What about Empire? What about McIntosh?” Everyone has their own favorite. Someone even asked me, “What about crabapples?” And all I could say was, “I have no clue.” That’s all anyone could, in fact, say, because they hadn’t been tested. Until now.

21 different varieties tested. I mean, why bite into a Red Delicious when you can bite into a good old 56-9-181 apple? There are actually 7,500 different types of apples, but let’s look at some crowd favorites. In alphabetical order: Braeburn, Cortland, crabapples, Empire, Golden Nugget, Honeycrisp, and Idared.

Here’s the graph, and we have a new winner! In fact, two new winners, putting Red Delicious in its place. We have a new loser, too—less nutritious than even a Fuji!

Let’s start there. Which one’s the least nutritious apple? And the bad apple is: Golden Nugget.

What about #1? Mirror, mirror on the wall, which is the healthiest of them all? Let’s take a bite out of the tree of knowledge. Crabapples!  Crabapples? Gross.

What’s this one? What’s the healthiest apple you can actually buy? Five options left to choose from: Braeburn, Cortland, Empire, Honeycrisp, or Idared. Well, it’s not McIntosh; not Empire; not Braeburn—I love Braeburn—and not Cortland.

The healthiest apple apple, beating out Red Delicious, is Idared.

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• G. M. Huber and H. P. V. Rupasinghe. Phenolic proles and antioxidant properties of apple skin extracts. J. Food Sci., 74(9):693, 2009.

• antioxidants
• apples
• fruit
• phytonutrients