An apple a day may not keep the doctor away
A person who eats an apple a day is presumed to be healthy, but new research shows that eating the fruit daily doesn’t necessarily keep the doctor away.
A study published in JAMA Internal Medicine found that eating an apple daily doesn’t decrease a person’s number of visits to the doctor, but decreases the number of prescriptions they take.
“Our findings suggest that the promotion of apple consumption may have limited benefit in reducing national health care spending,” study authors said in a news release. “In the age of evidence-based assertions; however, there may be merit to saying ‘An apple a day keeps the pharmacist away.’”
Dietary guidelines recommend eating seven to 13 servings of fruits and vegetables each day, specifically two servings of fruit for adults. Yet, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Americans are consuming 4.4 servings of both fruits and vegetables each day.
“While this research does find that eating an apple a day won’t necessarily decrease the number of times you need to visit your physician, eating the recommended number of both vegetables and fruits [including apples] is still something we should all strive for,” says Dr. Deepak Mitra, internal medicine physician at Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital in Barrington, Ill. “Fresh fruits and vegetables are low in calories, high in fiber, and have numerous health benefits.”
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health enews staff is a group of experienced writers from our Advocate Health Care and Aurora Health Care sites, which also includes freelance or intern writers.
