"Evidence does not support that an apple a day keeps the doctor away," according to the abstract of a paper published on the web site of the Journal of the American Medical Association today.
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However, "the small fraction of US adults who eat an apple a day do appear to use fewer prescription medications."
That's according to the paper "Association Between Apple Consumption and Physician Visits: Appealing the Conventional Wisdom That an Apple a Day Keeps the Doctor Away" (JAMA Intern Med doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2014.5466).
The authors also found that, compared to non–apple eaters, apple eaters were less likely to smoke, were better educated, and were more racially diverse.
Nonsmoking and education are correlated to better health, and when the data were adjusted for these and other factors the authors found that apple eaters saw doctors as often as non–apple eaters did.
The paper describes a cross-sectional study of 8,728 adults.
Thanks to Dr. Bradley Flansbaum of New York for flagging this story.
There is a lot of junk science about apples and health on the Internet, and I've chosen to stay away from the whole topic for the most part. But this is irresistible, indeed Ig Nobel–worthy.
Readers may also want to read the note from the editor of JAMA Internal Medicine about the scope and timing of this publication.
PS Who eats an apple a day, anyway? Oh yeah.
That is the problem with adjusting for education, since educated people eat healthier it automatically attenuates the benefits of eating healthier. It reminds me of the recent study that received a great deal of media attention about how vegans are at slightly greater stroke risk. Well the vegans in the study actually had significantly fewer strokes than the omnivores, but then they adjusted for the vegan's lower cholesterol and BMI numbers. However, the same behaviors (like eating soluble fiber) that prevent strokes, also lower cholesterol and BMI. There is no way to meaningfully or logically separate resulting variables that arise from the same root cause.
ReplyDeleteOh, and the vegans were still less likely to die, because heart disease is our number one killer, and the vegans still had lower heart disease rates in the adjusted data. But it was reported as: go vegan and watch your brain explode. Even though the actual vegans had fewer strokes, and were less likely to die overall. And a later more comprehensive study showed they were at no greater risk of stroke, even after the data was adjusted. Got to love the for profit media.
DeleteTo me it suggests that medical doctors also have senses of humor.
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