Eating an apple each day does not prevent visits to the doctor but it does dramatically cut the need for prescription medication, a study has found.
Researchers discovered that people who ate a daily apple were 27 per cent less likely to need to visit the pharmacist for drugs.
They concluded that while an apple-a-day may not stop people picking up diseases in the first place, it seems to limit the severity of the illness and make it more likely that bugs can be fought with over-the-counter remedies.
And based on the findings, if everyone in Britain ate an apple each day, it could save the NHS more than £4 billion each year.
Dr Matthew Davis, of the University of Michigan School of Nursing, said that many popular proverbs may turn out to be rooted in science, and urged more studies into the effectiveness of ancient health axioms.
“As the practice of medicine continues to advance in the 21st Century, we believe it is important to examine what we can learn from the past,” said Dr Davis.
“While the empirical evaluation of medical proverbs may allow us to profit from wisdom we were surprised to find a paucity of prior investigations of popular aphorisms.
“Our investigation has allowed us to update the well-known proverb to clarify, that if anything, apple eating may help keep the pharmacist away. Were this borne out it certainly could have health policy implications.”
Apples are good for health because they are high in fibre; essential vitamins and minerals, and flavonoids, a group of molecular compounds which are thought to prevent cancer and other health conditions.
Previous studies have linked apple eating to the reduction of asthma and improved heart and mental health.
The authors compared daily apple eaters - those who consumed at least one small apple per day or 149 grams of raw apple - with non-apple eaters.
Of the 8,399 survey participants who completed a dietary recall questionnaire, 753 were apple eaters and 7,646 were non-apple eaters.
The survey found that apple eaters had higher educational attainment, were more likely to be from a racial or ethnic minority, and were less likely to smoke.
The authors measured "keeping the doctor away" as no more than one self-reported visit to a physician during the past year.
Although the team found that there was no significant difference between apple-eaters and non-apple eaters when it came to keeping the doctor away, or avoiding an overnight hospital stay, they did find higher odds of avoiding prescription medications.
The team concluded the the promotion of apple consumption could help reduce 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." added Dr Davis.
The research was published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine.
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