What Happens To Your Heart When You Eat Applesauce Every Day
Applesauce was probably one of your first tastes of food when you were a baby, and maybe your parents opted for applesauce as your kid's meal side dish at restaurants. While applesauce might not substitute for candy, the naturally sweet applesauce can satisfy your cravings for sweets.
You might dismiss applesauce as a kid's dish, but applesauce is healthy for you. A cup of unsweetened applesauce has 102 calories and almost 3 grams of fiber. The 23 grams of sugar comes from the natural sugars in apples. If you get a brand with ascorbic acid added, you'll get 52 milligrams of vitamin C. If your applesauce doesn't have ascorbic acid added, you'll get 2.4 milligrams of vitamin C.
Applesauce also has other uses aside from being a side dish. Unsweetened applesauce can help you recover from digestive issues such as diarrhea (per Healthline). You can actually substitute applesauce for butter, oil, eggs, or sugar in your baking recipes to make them more healthy (per Craftsy). However you add applesauce to your daily diet, you could be improving your heart health, too.
Applesauce has the heart benefits of apples
Because applesauce is made from apples, you'll get the health benefits of apples as well. According to a 2015 article in Nutrients, apples are rich in insoluble fiber like cellulose and hemicellulose and soluble fiber like pectin. Pectin helps improve digestion and the health of your gut bacteria. The polyphenols mostly found in the apple's skin can reduce inflammation that's linked to cardiovascular disease. Apple pectin and polyphenols work together to reduce cholesterol and chronic inflammation. Apples also have flavonoids like quercetin and epicatechin to improve vascular function and reduce blood pressure.
Store-bought applesauce can contain apples, water, and ascorbic acid, which is vitamin C, to act as a preservative. The added vitamin C helps your body heal, supports collagen production for healthy skin, fights free radicals, and assists iron absorption (per WebMD). According to Mount Sinai, vitamin C might weaken the progression of the hardening of arteries and mitigate damage caused by LDL cholesterol. Low vitamin C levels have been linked to heart attacks, strokes, or artery diseases.
Making heart-healthy applesauce
A lot of the nutrients in apples are found in the skin, but many store-bought brands are made without the skin. Check the ingredients of your store-bought applesauce because some have added sugar or syrups that make it less healthy (per WebMD).
You can also make your own applesauce at home, but it won't have the added vitamin C. However, you'll still get the vitamin C that naturally exists in apples.
Making applesauce at home requires water and apples, but you can include apple cider, lemon juice, or spices for flavor. Start by removing the apple cores and slicing them into one-inch cubes. Place your apples in a pot and cover them with water. Bring the water to a boil and simmer for up to 30 minutes or until the apples are soft. Use a potato masher to create a sauce texture, or use a blender or food processor for smoother applesauce (per Food.com).
Southern Living says that McIntosh and Golden Delicious apples are great choices for applesauce. If you like a sweeter applesauce, try Fuji, Gala, or Honeycrisp apples. If you prefer some tart in your applesauce, choose Granny Smith, Cortland, or Pink Lady.