Every Christmas, every year, sees a considerable rise in the consumption of cider, that delicious beverage used in many countries (and particularly in our own) for toasts at Christmas lunches and dinners with family and friends. In addition to its flavour, cider is a digestive beverage that helps to regulate certain intestinal functions, which is why it is the perfect drink to follow the ubiquitous heavy lunches and dinners at this special time of the year.
Cider is an alcoholic drink, generally low in alcohol content, obtained by fermenting apple juice. In other words, it is a beverage obtained from fermented apple juice. That’s why it also popularly goes by the name of apple wine (even if it obviously is nothing of the sort)..
Nutritional benefits of cider
As we told you briefly in earlier lines, cider is well known for being a beverage of natural origin, low in alcohol content which, in addition to containing very few calories, contains absolutely no fat. If you look at the calories in cider, you’ll see that a glass of cider, with less than 3% of alcohol by volume, only contains 31 calories. However, it all depends on the alcohol content of the cider, given that some varieties have as much as 8º.
Cider is a natural beverage particularly rich in the following essential nutrients:
- Vitamins: vitamin C, B-group vitamins (B1, B2, B3, B6 and B7), vitamin E and vitamin K.
- Minerals: potassium, zinc, magnesium, phosphorus and sodium.
- Other nutrients: such as natural oxidants, which help to reduce the hugely negative effects of free radicals. It also contains polyphenols and peptide substances.
