Apple Products Research & Education Council - The Newsroom - APPLES NOW RELATED TO REDUCED INCIDENCE OF STROKE, NEW STUDY FINDS

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Sue Taylor, R.D.
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APPLES NOW RELATED TO REDUCED INCIDENCE OF STROKE,
NEW STUDY FINDS

ATLANTA (May 17, 2000) -- "An apple a day keeps the doctor away" continues to gain new scientific support. A study just published in the May 2000 issue of the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition has found that consumption of apples is related to a reduced risk of stroke.

Paul Knekt et al. from the National Public Health Institute in Helsinki, Finland evaluated the diets and health outcomes of 9,208 Finnish men and women (15 years or more of age) who were initially free from cardiovascular disease. After following these study participants for more than 28 years, the researchers determined that those who ate the most apples had the least risk for thrombotic stroke.

Two other epidemiological studies from the same study group in Finland, published within the last three years, also found that consumption of phytonutrients found in apples were correlated with risk reduction of both heart disease and lung cancer.

This new research supports other recent findings about the relationship that apples and apple products (such as apple juice) have with health. Last spring, scientific research from the University of California-Davis (UC-Davis) found that both apple juice and apples are loaded with healthy components - which may be just what the doctor ordered to provide balance to the not-so-healthy diets some Americans, particularly kids, are eating. That research was published in the April 16, 1999 issue of Life Sciences and was the first study in the U.S. to reveal that apple juice contains many of the newly identified phytonutrients ("phyto" means from the plant) that are being praised as important for good health.

"Apples, apple juice and other apple products have always been at the forefront of a healthy diet, but all of these studies are now confirming what those of us in the apple industry have known all along," notes Sue Taylor, R.D., director of nutrition communications for the Processed Apples Institute. "An apple (or apple juice) a day really will keep the doctor away!"

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The Processed Apples Institute is an international association of producers of processed apple products and those companies that supply raw materials or services to them.