An apple a day…….

As a kid I remember being told that “an apple a day keeps the doctor away”. Coming from the Apple Isle, Tasmania, I religiously ate at least one daily. Then I heard that there was research showing that apples were bad for you because of some chemical that was being sprayed on them to stop insects. I stopped eating them.

I now know that you should always wash all fruit and vegetables before eating them, so I’m now eating apples again – every day.

I am now really happy to find out that the saying I heard when young actually has some scientific backing.

Apples have now been called a miracle fruit by the researchers at Florida State University, who have just finished a study showing that they are very beneficial to postmenopausal women.

By eating two apples a day the test group of 45-65 year old women were found to have 25 percent lower cholesterol than when they started the study.

Dr. Bahram H. Arjmandi of Florida State University said “They experienced a 23% decrease in LDL cholesterol, which is known as the “bad cholesterol.I never expected apple consumption to reduce bad cholesterol to this extent while increasing HDL cholesterol or good cholesterol by about 4%.”

There were 160 women of that age group in the study and half were randomly given 75 g of dried apples per day for a year and the other half were given the same amount of prunes. Blood was taken at three, six and 12 months and tested for cholesterol and other components.

The women consuming the apples showed a marked improvement in cholesterol at the six month stage. This group also found an average weight loss of 3.3pounds (approximately 1.5kg). Dr. Bahram H. Arjmandi believes this was due to the pectin in the apples having a satiety effect.

Although this is the first study to look at the effects apples might have on cardio health, it is not the first to study the health benefits of this common fruit.

It has been found that some apples, and particularly Granny Smiths, contain salicylic acid, which has been linked to blood-thinning and cardioprotective improvements. Another recent study has shown that the polyphenols in apples have health benefits.