An apple a day does keep the doctor away

We’ve long been told that an apple a day will keep the doctor away but now research suggests the old wives tale could be true

Next time your walking down the fruit aisle make sure you pick up a bag of apples as studies suggest there is truth in the old saying that an apple a day keeps the doctor away.

Apples have long been known to be a good source of fibre but a study, funded by the US Department of Agriculture suggests apples can also lower levels of cholesterol and bio-markers linked to heart disease.

Dr Bahram Arjmandi, from the department of nutrition, food and exercise sciences at Florida University described the results as incredible concluding: ‘Everyone can benefit from consuming apples.’

In the study of 160 women aged between 45 to 65, 80 were asked to eat 75 grams of dried prunes a day for a year, and the other 80 were asked to eat the same amount of dried apple, in addition to their normal diets.

‘Incredible changes in the apple-eating women happened by 6 months,’ says Dr Arjmandi. ‘They experienced a 23 per cent decrease in LDL cholesterol, which is known as bad cholesterol.'

Furthermore the women who consumed apple had lower levels of biomarkers linked to heart disease, such as C-reactive protein, and they also shed an average of 3.3lb over the time period.

Previous studies have shown that apple pectin and compounds called polyphenols – also present in blueberries, tea and dark chocolate – stimulate the breakdown of fats in the blood and reduce inflammation of vessel walls, which both reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.

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