The old saying "an apple a day keeps the doctor away" may be false, but the fruit could cause you to reduce your prescription use.
Researchers compared a group of daily apple eaters with non-apple eaters, and classified keeping the "doctor away" as having no more than on self-reported physician visit over the past year, the JAMA Network Journals reported.
"Our findings suggest that the promotion of apple consumption may have limited benefit in reducing national health care spending. In the age of evidence-based assertions, however, there may be merit to saying 'An apple a day keeps the pharmacist away,'" the study stated.
Out of the 8,399 study participants who completed a dietary recall questionnaire, 9 percent ate an "apple a day" and a whopping 91 percent were non-apple eaters. The researchers noted that those who ate apples tended to have higher levels of education, be from an ethnic or racial minority, and were less likely to smoke.
The study determined there was not statistically significant difference between apple eaters and non-apple eaters in terms of number of visits to the doctor, especially once sociodemographic and health-related characteristics of the participants were factored into the results. There was also no difference between the two groups regarding likelihood of spending the night in the hospital or visiting a mental health professional. Daily apple eaters did prove to have "marginally" higher odds of avoiding prescription medications.
"Although we take seriously the statement, 'An apple a day keeps the doctor away' (and the importance of a good parachute), these articles launch our first April Fool's issue. At least once per year, and more is likely better (but needs to be tested), laughter is the best medicine. We look forward to continued editorial chuckles as you send us scientifically rigorous and humorous content that will educate and entertain us all, in time for our next April Fool's issue," Rita F. Redberg of the University of California, San Francisco, and editor-in-chief of JAMA Internal Medicine wrote in a related editor's note.
The findings were published in a recent edition of the journal JAMA Internal Medicine.
