These nutrition facts about apples make them a wonderful summer – and all-year-round – food:
• Apples are 85% water by weight and they are good to have when you are tired or sick. The pectin (a soluble fibre) in apple helps make your stools firm when you have diarrhea. Pectin has this effect because it dissolves in water to form a gel.

• Apples also give you energy from the fructose, or fruit sugar, they contain.

• Apples are a good source (technical meaning: they provide up to 25% of the required daily allowance) of fiber and Vitamin C. They also have some carbohydrate, very little fat, and small quantities of minerals like calcium and iron.

• Apples have antioxidants that fight cancer, allergies like asthma and even lung disease. One study found smokers who ate apples every day were less likely to develop bronchitis. Fuji apples especially have more antioxidants than other apples.

To get the most out of apples, select well-ripened fruits with good coloring. If they are organic apples, eat the skin because the skin contains most of the antioxidants and other nutrients. Cooking destroys some of the antioxidants and minerals, so eat them uncooked. If you juice them, don’t discard the pulp: pulpy juice is more nutritious than clear apple juice.

And last, but hardly the least, apples will stay sweet and firm and fresh in your lunch box or in your bag. Take them for those in-between times when you feel like a bite.

Read more about apples here:

1. Apples are a superfood

2. Eat apples when you are pregnant to lower your baby’s risk of asthma

3. Apples prevent colon cancer

4. Apples reduce the risk of heart disease and diabetes