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Popeye was right and the wicked queen in Snow White didn't realise her proffered apple could also be a key to good health.

Scientists know that eating spinach and apples acutely increases nitric oxide (NO) status, an important molecule for cardiovascular and cognitive health through its affect on blood flow and blood vessel function.

But Dr Catherine Bondonno in the School of Medicine and Pharmacology was interested in testing whether flavonoid-rich apples and nitrate-rich spinach would increase markers of NO in the body, thereby leading to an improvement in cognitive function and mood.

"An imbalance of NO has been found in cardiovascular disorders and certain pathological conditions in the brain, [and] it appears cardiovascular disease or the presence of risk factors for cardiovascular disease contribute to cognitive decline," she said.

"A diet high in fruit and vegetables is associated with improved cardiovascular and cognitive health.

"Flavonoids and nitrate, two components of a fruit and vegetable diet, are currently generating interest as research shows they could improve health by increasing NO in the body."

They recruited 30 healthy female and male volunteers, selected with a medical history questionnaire, electrocardiography, BMI, height and weight, blood pressure, and blood samples.

Volunteers were randomly assigned into one of four interventions: apple (high flavonoid low nitrate); spinach (low flavonoid high nitrate); apple AND spinach (high flavonoid high nitrate) and a control (low flavonoid low nitrate).

The active interventions required eating 200g of Pink Lady apples, the skins homogenised with the flesh, 200g of spinach, or both, at lunchtime.

The researchers measured blood NO levels as well as nitrate and nitrite levels in blood, urine and saliva.

Cognitive performance and mood were determined using the Cognitive Drug Research battery and the Bond-Lader mood scale respectively.

"Compared with the control, apples and spinach increased markers of NO in the plasma (blood)," Dr Bondonno said.

"Spinach and the apple plus spinach combination significantly improved markers of NO in saliva and urine as well."

While they did not observe any improvement or deterioration in cognitive function or mood, the study utilised healthy volunteers with normal cognitive function, and the researchers were only assessing short-term effects.

"It doesn't rule out the possibility of an improvement with long-term intake of spinach and apples, an effect in a group of volunteers with a lower cognitive performance, or an improvement with harder cognitive tasks," she said.

Dr Bondonno is now interested in examining the long-term intake effects of apples and spinach on NO status and cognitive function.

This story, by Rebecca Graham,  was first published in ScienceNetwork WA