An apple a day keeps the prescription drugs away

Does an apple a day really keep the doctor away?

The saying has been around for over 100 years, but c'mon: You're supposed to eat five to nine servings of fruits and vegetables every day, with an emphasis on the dark green and deep orange sort. Can a single apple really make a difference? Turns out yes, but not in the way you might think.

Several studies have analyzed the health benefits of eating apples—a 2011 Dutch study found that eating apples and pears was associated with a lower risk of stroke, for example—but until now, no one had examined whether the aphorism was literally true.

Researcher Matthew A. Davis, an assistant professor at University of Michigan, was intrigued. So he and his colleagues designed an apple study. Armed with dietary information from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, which had asked more than 8,000 adults what they ate during the previous 24 hours, the researchers were able to identify 753 apple-a-day eaters and over 7,000 people they called "non-apple eaters."

The apple-a-day eaters were not more likely to keep the doctor away. They weren't hospitalized less than non-apple eaters, either, and they didn't see mental health professionals less.

But they did keep prescription medications at bay: these people were slightly less likely to use a prescription drug than the non-apple eaters.

The study, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, doesn't prove a cause-and-effect relationship between eating apples and using less medication (or not keeping the doctor away); it's merely an association.

"I don't want to overstate the findings," Davis said, "but we definitely called into question the age old saying that an apple a day keeps the doctor away."

Asked whether he eats an apple every day, Davis said, "Occasionally."

Whether you eat them daily or not, buy apples grown in New Zealand or else buy organic. Apples contain fiber, vitamins, and minerals—but a recent Consumer Reports analysis found those grown conventionally in the U.S. are high-risk for pesticide residues. Conventional New Zealand apples and organics from any location are low risk.

—Roni Caryn Rabin