Eating two apples a day has been shown to help keep cholesterol down and fight heart disease risk according to new research. In a paper published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, a team of scientists led by the University of Reading in collaboration with the Fondazione Edmund Mach (FEM) Institute, Italy found that eating apples which were rich in fibre and compounds called polyphenols reduced the amount of total and LDL cholesterol and improved markers associated with blood vessel health in participants who had slightly raised blood cholesterol levels.
Professor Julie Lovegrove, director of the Hugh Sinclair Unit of Human Nutrition at the University of Reading said: “This latest study shows that the impact of an easy to implement dietary change could have an important impact on key measures of heart disease risk. A particular interest in this study is how the two whole apples, rather than a sugar and calorie matched apple juice drink, has had a significant effect on markers of heart health of participants. “It seems the old adage of an apple day was nearly right.”