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.”
*This article was originally posted here on Advocate Health Care’s health enews site.
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About the Author
Erin Abbey is the public affairs and marketing manager at Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital in Barrington where she works on getting the word out about hospital news and accomplishments as well as community events and activities.
CLICK HERE to read the latest articles Erin has written for Advocate Health Care’s health enews website at ahchealthenews.com. She is also the author of our 365 Barrington Health Beat series focused on advice from area physicians, the latest medical news and trends toward better health in and around Barrington.
