An apple a day keeps the doctor away


"An apple a day keeps the doctor away" is a common English-language proverb of Welsh origin. There is no scientific evidence that eating an apple a day has any significant health effect.

Origin

A variant of the proverb, "Eat an apple on going to bed, and you’ll keep the doctor from earning his bread" was recorded as a Pembrokeshire saying in 1866. The current phrasing, "An apple a day keeps the doctor away", began usage at the end of the 19th century, with early print examples found as early as 1887.

Scientific evaluation

A 2015 study found no evidence that the proverb was true: adult consumers of one small apple per day had the same number of physician visits as those who did not eat apples. The study also found that people who ate an apple a day used fewer prescription medications. Other than for a moderate amount of carbohydrates as fructose and dietary fiber, an medium-size apple supplies 95 calories and 14% of the Daily Value for vitamin C, but otherwise has a low content of micronutrients.