Let’s get one thing straight.  I’m not a fan of clinical settings.  Dentists, hospitals, doctor’s offices.  Not a fan.  So, begrudgingly, I sat down in an empty chair to fill out my paperwork before my yearly checkup.  In the process, I plopped my purse down on the coffee table in front of me, right beside a bowl of apples.  I paused and stared at the fruit quizzically.  They couldn’t possibly be real apples…in a doctor’s office.  Could they?  I reached forward and picked one from the pile.  They were.  I laughed, louder than I realized apparently because the receptionist spoke up.

“We get that a lot.” She smiled. 

I do love a good dose of irony and it isn’t every day you find a bowl of apples in the waiting room of a doctor’s office, so I had to ask.  “Well, is it true?”

The receptionist looked at me questioningly.

“Does an apple a day keep the doctor away?”  I smiled back.

Her response is the reason that, to this day, I refuse to change doctors.  “I guess you’ll have to eat one every day for a year and let us know.”  She was snarky.  I like that.  I also like having answers, so at that point I was also curious if it was true or not, because that’s how my mind works.  It just so happens there happen to be studies that, indeed, confirm the old wives’ tale.

A 2005 Canadian study concluded that apples are extremely high in antioxidants.  When your body lacks vital antioxidants, your immune system gets lethargic, your energy and stamina beg to be excused from the table, and free radical damage takes a seat in its place, which leaves the door open to you getting sick more easily.

It’s an a-peel-ing concept (I know…terrible, terrible pun)  Poor puns aside, research has shown that eating a diet rich in fruits and vegetables does in fact reduce the risks of heart disease, diabetes, and a host of other diseases.  One study shows that apples also have very high cancer-fighting properties. The study tells us that apples may very well be the antioxidant to watch.  The researchers identified a group of phytochemicals that proved to be quite effective against at least three different types of human cancer cells – breast, colon, and liver.

The study confirmed that the peel is the most essential part of the fruit when it comes to health benefits.  While we have traditionally considered the peel healthy because of its fiber content, these results show that apple peels have far more effective antioxidant action against human cancer cells than the apple flesh.  The fiber content is a bonus.

Researchers have mainly focused on the anti-cancer properties that can be found in the seeds and skins of fruits and veggies, but they say there is still a lot to be learned about the health benefits they can offer and what makes them such an essential part of our diet.  Regardless of the unknowns, and how much I happen to like the people who work at my doctor’s office, if an apple a day will do the trick…I’m all for giving it a shot.