How Do You Like Them Apples?

Worried that holiday menus will break your promises to eat healthfully? Get apple happy.

Whether they're in pies, stuffing, chutney, cobblers, or other festive favorites, apples are super healthy, not least because they're a top source of quercetin.
What's that? It's a potent antioxidant that seems to protect against asthma, allergies, prostate cancer, heart disease, and -- the latest -- colon cancer.

So grab a bushel before the best of fall's crop is gone. Then get cooking!

Here's what's so great about quercetin: It's believed to work as an anti-inflammatory, antiallergen, and antihistamine, as well as an antioxidant, which means it gobbles up free radicals before they can cause cell damage.

Apples (especially the peels) are a primo source of quercetin, as are onions, green tea, kale, and broccoli -- all foods that are good for you in many other ways, too.

Now a new study suggests that quercetin changes the way colon tissue lives and grows, right down to the cellular level.

Quercetin amps up the amount of a protein in colon cells that protects against cancer and decreases the amounts of three other proteins that promote tumor growth.

That's a lot of colon protection wrapped up in a tiny molecular package.

So make holiday get-togethers as healthful as you can by adding apple-studded recipes to the menu. No one will ever guess you're serving health food.