Keeps the Doctor Away...

Q: Dear 100 Hour Board:

Which part of the apple is healthier for you...the skin or the inside?

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A: Dear Fruit Connoisseur:

Great question. Food and science - my favorite combination Let's start with the obviously gratuitous download of facts.

Apples, malus x domestica, was first domesticated in Kazakhstan, spread across the Middle East in Greece, on to Rome and the rest of Europe. There a quite a variety of crossbred apples, but mainly 4 types: cider, eating (desert), cooking and dual-purpose.

Apples are fruit, a developed part of the plant ovary that contains seeds and some form of transport material. Sometimes these are spikes or feathery things, but for apples the plant develops some storage tissue that is tasty solely for the purpose to be eaten by animals that the seeds will be transported away. It is not necessarily meant to be a meal - just tempting (like the serpent's apple). Not much in nutritional value: proteins, fats, but it has sugars and a whole host of vitamins. Add in some antioxidants, a few toxins at times and fiber (cellulose, hemi-cellulose and other plant matter) and you have yourself an apple.

Now to your question. Best answered with some math:

The difference in the two:

Medium apple skin
Energy g 18
Energy kj 75
Protein g 0.05
Total lipid (fat) g 0.10
Ash g 0.08
Carbohydrate g 4.59
Fiber g 2.3
Sugars g 2.65

Compare the two? Skin is definitely not more nutritious than the inside as a total - but considering it is a small portion of the apple, per ounce it is more nutritious. It does have over half the fiber of the apple, so if you're looking for ruffage and regularity eat the peel.

(All number courtesy from Nutrient Data Laboratory from the USDA.

100 Hour Board - I'm hungry now