We have all heard the adage “An apple a day keeps the doctor away” having a great significance since ages. This proverb means that eating an apple each day keeps you healthy. Apples are so full of vitamins and nutrients that if you eat one every day, you will not become sick and you will therefore not have to visit the doctor.
Eating an apple a day is a very easy thing to do. However, as this proverb shows, even a simple act can be a powerful one. This proverb motivates us to take a positive action for our lives rather than simply expecting others to do it. It suggests that getting into a good daily routine can help us to stay healthy. It encourages us to get into good habits early on as soon as possible rather than not taking positive action until it is too late.
Even if we do not like the taste of apples, we can still absorb the general principles of health, motivation and self-care that are right at the heart of this famous saying.
The aphorism dates back to 1866 and originally appeared in a Welsh publication as “Eat an apple on going to bed and you will keep the doctor from earning his bread”. By the turn of the 20th century, several variations of the rhyme circulated including the now popular adage. The apple is classified as Pome. Pomes are fruits that have a core, their genus is Malus and there are 25 existing species of apples. Apples are available all year round and mostly grown in the temperate zone in both hemispheres.
Research over the last few decades has shown that apples are indeed a very healthy snack and boast a wide variety of health benefits. According to the US Department of Agriculture depending on the size and variety, an apple with the skin contains about 14 percent of a person’s dietary reference intake (DRI) of vitamin C. It has 100 Calories, two percent of DRI of vitamin A, calcium and iron. Each apple contains a whopping 4 gram of fibre accounting for almost 20 percent of a person’s DRI. It does not contain any fat or sodium.
Apples are a good source of pectin which is a type of soluble fibre that maintains healthy digestive system and reduces bad cholesterol levels. Vitamin A strengthens vision, vitamin C boosts the immune system, boron promotes bone strength and brain health. Apples help us to reduce high blood pressure and heart disease as well as lowers the risk of cancer. Quercetin, a reddish pigment considered as an antioxidant found in apples protects against Alzheimer’s disease and provides relief from allergies. If you enjoy biting into a ripe, juicy apple, your teeth may thank you, too. Dentists believe eating apple reduces tooth decay by cleaning the teeth and killing bacteria. For females, it is a boon because it contains abundant iron content which is highly recommended for them as they lose a lot of blood during their menstruation period.
In modern times we are all tempted to eat many types of fast food owing to their easy accessibility. The tsunami of junk food has struck the entire world. It has wrecked havoc on people’s health. A question arises here: Whether to peel an apple or not? The answer is just “no” as the peel of an apple contains a significant amount of health-boosting antioxidants. These antioxidants are like natural disease fighters that help reduce inflammation. Studies show that antioxidants in apples could help to reduce asthma in adults.
But nowadays, the proverb “An apple a day keeps the doctor away” has become a commodity to be bought and sold. The merchants are adding artificial ripening agents like ethylene and calcium carbide to ripen fruits that affect our health. So, we need to scrutinise before we eat. Also, doctors have sacrificed their goals of curing people with the sole aim of minting money. Therefore, the statement “an apple a day keeps the doctor away” is a hollow ironical sham. This proverb gets justified if we understand that the adage not only encourages us to eat more fruits but more fundamentally encourages us to take care of our health.