Using mathematical models, researchers added an apple to the diet of every Brit over the age of 50—a total of 22 million adults—while keeping calorie intake constant. The idea being that calories from a vitamin and fiber-packed apple might displace those from less salubrious snacks.
And they found that upping the apple input could stave off some 8,500 deaths by heart attack or stroke each year—compared with an estimated 9,400 deaths averted by statins in England.
The comparison is not apples-and-oranges. Because some doctors have indeed proposed giving statins to everyone over 50 as a preventive measure. But a small change in diet might do as much good, if people comply. And unlike statins, which can up the risk of diabetes, apples have few side effects: the researchers cite the distress caused by a bruised apple; or the "theoretical risk of identifying half a worm inside."
So how do you like them apples?
—Christopher Intagliata
