"Eat an apple on going to bed, you'll keep the doctor from his bread."
Pembrokeshire Proverb 1886
Still Life with Apples
We've all heard the old saying, "An apple a day keeps the doctor away," but where did it come from and is there any truth in it? You'd think the answer to both questions would be relatively simple but tracking the origins of a "proverb" isn't as easy as it seems. Some assume this to have originated as one of the proverbs in "Poor Richard's Almanac" by Benjamin Franklin but existing copies don't validate that claim. Others have suggested it came from a horror story of sorts in the American West in the early 1800s, or from an old wives' tale in Great Britain as far back as 1670. However, the general consensus from the most reputable sources I could find trace the origin to a Pembrokeshire, Wales, UK proverb.
The February 1866 edition of Notes and Queries magazine
includes this:
"A
Pembrokeshire proverb. Eat an apple on going to bed, And you'll keep the doctor
from earning his bread." A number of variants of the rhyme were in circulation around
the turn of the 20th century. In 1913, Elizabeth Wright recorded a Devonian
dialect version and also the first known mention of the version we use now, in
Rustic Speech and Folk-lore: "Ait a happle
avore gwain to bed, An' you'll make the doctor beg his bread; or as the more
popular version runs: An apple a day Keeps the doctor away."
There's also a poem - or rather a nursery rhyme - that was popular in the UK years ago that includes this proverb:
Apple a day keeps
the doctor away,
Apple in the
morning, doctor’s warning.
Roast apple at
night, starves the doctor outright.
Eat an apple going
to bed – knock the doctor on the head.
Three each day, 7
a week – ruddy apple, ruddy cheek.
Origins aside, is there any truth to the saying? Apparently there is. According to the blog at www.fitday.com apples have lots of health benefits beginning with the fact that they have no cholesterol, are low in fat and sodium, low in calories (80 for a medium size apple), have 22 grams of carbs but most of those are complex carbs for sustained energy and a positive impact on balancing sugar/insulin levels. They are also very high in vitamins A, E and betacarotene which aid in suppressing free radicals and which have also been proven to help prevent serious conditions like diabetes, cardiovascular disease and asthma. Throw in the immune system boosting benefits of the vitamin C in apples, the pectin that adds fiber and aids in digestive health and boron - a nutrient that promotes both brain and bone health - and you have a nearly perfect food. Finally, apples contain another nutrient called Quercetin, a flavonoid which "has the potential to
prevent many different types of cancer, ranging from breast cancer to lung
cancer. It may also be effective in combating free radicals that can cause age-related
diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease."
There's even a bit more good news for the health conscious - especially women. A study of post-menopausal women between the ages of 45 and 65 showed that those who ate an apple a day versus eating dried prunes, lowered bad cholesterol (LDL) by 23% more AND lost an average of 3.3 pounds. And for the arthritis sufferers out there - apples also lower the production of pro-inflammatory molecules in the body. I actually didn't put this all together until recently but I was stricken with an inflammatory arthritis - without the presence of the rheumatoid factor but equally painful - when I was very young and was taking cortisone injections before I was 30 in my knees. Then I heard an old wives' tale about taking a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar in a glass of cool water each morning and after two weeks, I was pain free for the first time in years without aspirin or other anti-inflammatories. I wish I could still take it but the acid aggravates an ulcer just as aspirin does. But I understand now why it worked so well back then. Fortunately, I can still eat apples - and I try to eat one a day even though to be honest, the good ones have become terribly expensive!! Still, I have to endorse this old saying - "an apple a day keeps the doctor away." It certainly can help.
