Apple

Food · Fruit · Pome & Citrus

Connected to · 2

food source · 1

Carbs & Fiber
What to remember about apples is pectin: this soluble fiber turns into a gel in water and slows how fast sugar reaches the blood. Juicing filters the gel away.
Mechanism · 2
Mechanism · The gel is a net
Pectin dissolves in water into a thick gel, and sugar has to work its way through that net before the gut wall can absorb it; the gel also slows the emptying of the stomach. In the large intestine, gut bacteria ferment pectin into short-chain fatty acids that fuel the cells of the gut wall. Juicing barely touches the sugar; what it takes away is mainly the gel, so the sugar is still there but nothing holds it back.
Numbers · An apple and a glass of juice
A medium apple weighs about 180–200 g and is roughly 85% water; raw apple with its skin has about 52 kcal per 100 g. Vitamin C, at only about 4–6 mg per 100 g, is not what apples are for. A no-added-sugar label on 100% juice only means no extra sugar was put in; without the fiber, a glass of apple juice is closer to an apple-flavored sweet drink than to a serving of fruit.

contrast · 1

Fruit Juice
A whole apple and a glass of apple juice hold similar sugar, but the body treats them differently. In the whole fruit, sugar sits behind cell walls and pectin and is released in batches; juicing strains these away, so the sugar becomes free sugar and reaches the blood quickly. In three large US cohorts, people who ate more whole fruit had a lower risk of type 2 diabetes and people who drank more juice had a higher one; this is an observed association, but it fits the mechanism.
who-2015-free-sugars

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What kind of fruit an apple is

EVIDENCEGUIDE 1

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The thing most worth remembering about apples is pectin. This soluble fiber forms a gel in the gut that slows sugar on its way into the blood, feeds your gut bacteria, and carries off a little bile acid along the way. That is why eating an apple whole, skin on, and drinking it as juice are two different things in the body. Where exactly the gel does its work is covered in the chapter on what pectin does.

The apple is the classic pome fruit, a close relative of pear and quince: a soft core holding a few seeds, wrapped in crisp, juicy flesh. A medium apple weighs about 180-200 g and is roughly 85% water, which is the main reason its calorie count stays low.

A red apple cut lengthwise, exposing thin red skin, pale flesh and a central core holding brown seeds. — A CLOSER LOOK
Skin, flesh and a seed-bearing core
Apples and pears are pomes. This cut face separates flesh, thin skin and central core to show the structure of whole fruit.

Educational content, not medical advice — consult a clinician.

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