After research into the health benefits offered by wine and beer, scientists have now turned their attention to cider, an alcoholic beverage prepared from the fermented juice of apples or pears.
From its origin in Britain, which generates about 500 million litres of cider per year and where it is a highly popular beverage, cider is produced now in many countries that have a good crop of apples and pears. Cider is enjoyed in many parts of the world such as the US, Ireland, France, northern Spain, New Zealand, Australia to name a few. Cider sales account for about 22% of total beer sales in the world per annum.
Scientists suggest that cider can prove beneficial for our health owing to the presence of phenolic compounds in it. The high content of such useful compounds in cider is because of the use of apples and pears that are packed with phenolic compounds that have antioxidant properties. These compounds are ascribed to have the ability to deal with stroke, heart disease and cancer. Serena Marks, a scientist involved with this research at the Glasgow University says,
“Apples are high in phenolics and cider apples have higher phenolic content than dessert apples. This could mean a glass of cider is not only enjoyable but a great way for people to naturally increase the amount of phenolics in their diet.”
At present, Serena Marks and her colleagues have conducted a comparitive analysis of one type of dessert apple, 19 types of English cider apples and 35 kinds of cider for their phenolic contents to arrive at these conclusions. She says.
“The more information we can get about the phenolics in cider and what happens to them in the body, the more chance we have of positively influencing the phenolic content of cider, for example, by helping manufacturers chose varieties of cider apple which have naturally higher levels of phenolics”
The research though still in its embryonic stages, holds a lot of promise and if long-term benefits are established this research will go a long way in dealing with some of the most common but serious health problems we face today.
Image: Fieryfoods
Via: Medindia, Glasgow