Apples: The perfect start to the day

To give children a head start with mental agility and being alert at school, an apple as part of the morning breakfast routine can pay dividends. There has never been an argument over the necessity for children to eat a balanced diet and for a healthy breakfast to play a pivotal role in their daily food intake. Now it seems that apples, which are rich in antioxidants, natural fibre and carbohydrates, can do more than keep the doctor at bay.

Breakfasts provide not only nutrition for vital growth and development for children but deliver the key nutrients to keep them refuelled and alert for lessons. A good balanced breakfast can provide 25% of a child's daily essential nutrition; apples, like the award winning British grown Rubens, can help add to the necessary carbohydrate and mineral intake along with the important antioxidants to ensure that children don't run out of mental or physical energy during the school day.

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day for a number of reasons:

Sleep is the body's natural way of fasting and breakfast provides the perfect kick start to replenish the body

Children use energy whilst sleeping through growing, repairing and replacing blood, cells and tissue
A balanced diet including a regular intake of fruit, especially apples, can help with weight management
Apples are the perfect low calorie snack that can re-energise young bodies quickly
Apples can easily be added to a variety of breakfast cereal to replace unhealthy sugars which do not break down in the body as quickly and turn to fat
Antioxidants found in apples also contribute to a reduction of cancers by preventing damage to cells and aiding the repair of cells and tissue

Studies from the Chinese University of Hong Kong discovered that fruit flies fed apple extract lived 10% longer than a control group of fruit files fed on a normal diet. The study theorised that apple antioxidants reduced the level of free radicals linked to the aging process.

Studies also show that eating apples regularly contributes toward a reduction in the heart attack and stroke casualty rates among women in particular and researchers at the University of Bonn have been looking at the capacity of apples to lower cholesterol levels; in some individuals 2 apples a day lowered counts by as much as 10% in a 3 month period.

With so much goodness packed into its small form, parents can take advantage of the health benefits as well as their children who can gain long-term health and short-term mental agility benefits.

Early English apples are available now in stores with the award winning British grown Rubens apples expected in supermarkets and shops early October.

For more information:
Darren Laws
Tel: +1 01634 672874
Darren.laws@thinkzest.com