Health Benefits of Apricot

Apricots are those beautifully orange colored fruits full of beta-carotene and fiber that are one of the first signs of summer. Although dried and canned apricots are available year-round, fresh apricots with a plentiful supply of vitamin C and are in season in North America from May through August. Any fresh fruit you see during the winter months have been imported from either South America or New Zealand.

These sunny fruits are among the most favorite and most healthy foods of modern healthy life-style followers. Health benefits of apricots include numerous therapeutic properties of this natural remedy, such as its ability to treat constipation, various skin problems, strained muscles, earache, indigestion and many more. Apricots are rich in Vitamins A, B2, B3 and C, as well as with useful natural sugars. The fruit is slightly acidic and more likely suitable for blending than for juicing. It is very low caloric and can provide great amounts of healthy nutrition.

Relatives to peaches, apricots are small, golden orange fruits, with velvety skin and flesh, not too juicy but definitely smooth and sweet. Some describe their flavor as almost musky, with a faint tartness that lies somewhere between a peach and a plum.

You can eat apricots raw, cooked, dried, or canned. But dried apricots will benefit you even more.

In making dried apricots, fresh apricots are stripped of their water content without tampering with their nutrient qualities. And do you know that 5 pounds of fresh apricots produce only one pound of dried apricots?

For this reason, dried apricots carry a much higher concentration level of nutrients than any other forms.

Have you ever come across the brown dried apricots apart from the more commonly seen orange ones?

Their difference in colors can tell you which one is tastier.

You might also wonder why their colors are different. Here's the reason.

Non-organic apricots are treated with sulphur dioxide before drying in order to prevent the fruits from oxidation, thus preserving their rich orange color.

·         Nutrients in apricots can help protect the heart and eyes, as well as provide the disease-fighting effects of fiber. The high beta-carotene content of apricots makes them important heart health foods. Beta-carotene helps protect LDL cholesterol from oxidation, which may help prevent heart disease.

·         Apricots contain nutrients such as vitamin A that promote good vision. Vitamin A, a powerful antioxidant, quenches free radical damage to cells and tissues. Free radical damage can injure the eyes' lenses.

·         The degenerative effect of free radicals, or oxidative stress, may lead to cataracts or damage the blood supply to the eyes and cause macular degeneration. Researchers who studied over 50,000 registered nurses found women who had the highest vitamin A intake reduced their risk of developing cataracts nearly 40%.

·         Apricots are a good source of fiber, which has a wealth of benefits including preventing constipation and digestive conditions such as diverticulosis. A healthy, whole foods diet should include apricots as a delicious way to add to your fiber intake. Apricots can act as gentle laxative due to its cellulose and pectin content. Hence, if you suffer from chronic constipation, consume 6 to 8 apricots per day should help improve your condition.

·         As they produce an alkaline reaction on the body system, they can help you to digest better if you take some before meal. Just make sure you don't take too much so as not to disturb your proper meal consumption.

·         Anemia is a condition whereby the blood has a lower-than-normal concentration of red blood cells (RBCs) or the RBCs have a below average amount of hemoglobin. This condition is most commonly caused by iron deficiency. Since dried apricots contain high content of iron, they're usually included in the treatment of Anemia.

·         Apricot juice with glucose or honey can help cool your body during fever. It can also quench your thirst; eliminate the waste products from your body, tone up your eyes, stomach, liver, heart and nerves by supplying vitamins and minerals.

·         You can use apricot leaves to treat scabies, eczema, sunburn and itching of your skin due to cold exposure.

·         As apricots are low in calories and fats, you can purée canned apricots in a blender until smooth and use it as substitute for oil, prunes or applesauce in high-calorie, high-fat recipes.

·         Apricot juice is an excellent source of calcium and iron compounds, which is why it is highly recommended to pregnant women and young children. 150 ml of 100% apricot juice is enough to satisfy our daily need in carotene, and the juice is much easier to digest than apricot fruits.

·         Health benefits of apricot include improved function of brain due to a high content of magnesium and phosphorus.

·         Magnesium can also help to normalize blood pressure very effectively.

·         Apricot juice can be used to relief increased acidity in stomach, as well as relieve the symptoms of colitis, flatulence and bacterial imbalances.

·         Apricot is a perfect diuretic and in order to receive maximum effects it is recommended to drink 70-80 g of apricot juice 6-7 times a day.

·         The kernel (inner softer part of the seed) yields oil that is similar to that of the almond and is widely used for their sedative, anti-spasmodic relief to strained muscles.  It is also useful for healing of wounds, expelling worms and as a general health tonic.

·         Apricot oil is good for earache.

·         The seeds of apricot are believed to aid in treating cancer. It is it helps in preventing cancer in organs lined by epithelial tissue, due to its high vitamin A content.

·         It is also believed that apricot oil is anti-asthmatic in nature and helps in treating the disease.

·         Apricot has high mineral content that makes it beneficial in cases of anemia, tuberculosis, asthma, bronchitis, and toxemia.

·         It may help remove gallstones.

·         Apricot oil is often used for body massage and for keeping the skin all glowing and healthy. This oil is good for treating skin diseases like scabies, itching and eczema.

Caution

Fresh apricots contain a small amount of oxalates.  Individuals with a history of calcium oxalate-containing kidney stones should not consume too much of this fruit.

Commercially grown dried apricots may be treated with sulfur dioxide gas during processing. They may also be treated with sulfites to extend their shelf life.

Sulfur-containing compounds are often added to dried foods like apricots as preservatives to help prevent oxidation and bleaching of colors. The sulfites used to help preserve dried apricots cause adverse reactions in an estimated one out of every 100 people, who turn out to be sulfite sensitive.

Despite its vast beneficial contribution to our health, I wanted to bring to your attention that over-consuming apricot seeds raw can fatally poison you. Since 1957, Turkey, a big apricot country, has reported 9 cases of lethal poisoning from apricot seeds.

If you've loved the seeds for years, it's time to kick that craving. Preventive measures on how many seeds a person can take before they get poisoned are still unclear. So, better be safe than be sorry.