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An APPLE A DAY - no longer keeps the doctor away
The saying 'an apple a day keeps the doctor away' became popular in
the early part of this century, but the expression goes back further
than that and is repeated in many languages and cultures. A contemporary
Arabic version is 'an apple a day will keep away a thousand doctors'.
But why?
Table one below shows the decline in the mineral content of apples
between 1914 and 1992. Table two shows the decline in vitamin contents
from 1963 to 1992. Vitamin data is not available from 1914 because
most vitamins had not been discovered then. Apples as they were grown
when the 'apple a day' saying was coined, contained significant mineral
and vitamin nutrition. An apple in 1914 contained one third of the
minimum daily requirement of iron.
Today's apple contains only 1% of that requirement - you would have
to eat 26 apples today to get the same iron nutrition as from one
apple previously! The mineral rich apples of yesteryear certainly
stood a better chance of keeping us healthy than the mineral depleted
supplies of today!
Table 1:
80 year decline in mineral content of one medium apple (raw with skin)
|
MINERAL
|
1914
|
1992
|
% change
|
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Calcium
|
13.5mg
|
7.0mg
|
- 48.15
|
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Phosphorous
|
45.2mg
|
7.0mg
|
- 84.5
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Iron
|
14.6mg
|
0.18mg
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- 96.09
|
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Potassium
|
117.0mg
|
115.0mg
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- 1.71
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Magnesium
|
28.9mg
|
5.0mg
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- 82.70
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Table2:
Changes in the vitamin content of one medium apple (raw with skin)
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VITAMIN
|
1963
|
1992
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% change
|
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Vitamin A
|
90.0 iu
|
53.0 iu
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- 41.11
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Vitamin C
|
4.0mg
|
5.7mg
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+ 42.5
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Thiamine
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0.03mg
|
0.017mg
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- 43.33
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Riboflavin
|
0.02mg
|
0.014mg
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- 30.0
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Niacin
|
0.1mg
|
0.077mg
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- 23.0
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