An Apple a Day Keeps the Statins at Bay On the 100th anniversary of the first appearance of the phrase ‘An
apple a day keeps the doctor away’ (see sidebar) researchers from
Oxford published a paper in the British Medical Journal A statin a day
keeps the doctor away: comparative proverb assessment modeling study.
1. After I read the paper, I felt ‘An apple a day keeps the statins
at bay’ was a better goal for doctors and their patients. In their
paper, researchers calculated that if everyone over 50 in the United Kingdom
would all take statin drugs, ~9400 deaths from cardiovascular disease
would be prevented every year.* They then used the formula substituting
an apple for the drug and an equal number of calories** (the 95 or so
calories provided by the apple were subtracted from other meals so there
would not be a daily increase.) Their results revealed that if 70% complied,
an apple a day would prevent ~ 8500 deaths a year — almost 1000
less than the statin drug. However, when researchers estimated side effects,
the stain drug would cause almost 14,000 serious problems a year: When they repeated the exercise using adults aged 30 and above, they
estimated that the statins would save another 200 lives each year for
a new total of 9600. Apples would prevent 300 more death’s reaching
8800 annually. If 30 year olds all started a daily statin, the annual
But the number of side effects would explode: If compliance with the apple (or a 2nd apple for those who already consumed 1 a day) was 90% instead of the 70%, the annual reduction of death from cardiovascular causes would reach 11000 - a 29% increase for a 20% higher compliance rate. On the BMJ website at the end of the article, a text box titled “What this study adds” states “An apple a day or a statin a day is equally likely to keep the doctor away.” I must respectively disagree: Yes they may be equally likely to keep the undertaker away, but with 14,000 preventable cases of diabetes and muscle disease every year “A statin a day guarantees the doctor gets pay.”
Sidebar: The origin of “An apple a day keeps the doctor away” (AADKDA) Now that we know that “A statin a day keeps the doctor away”
and “An apple a day or a statin a day is equally likely to keep
the doctor away‘” comes from researchers at the world famous
Oxford University Medical School in the United Kingdom 1and ‘An
apple a day keeps the statins at bay’ comes from an obscure chiropractor
from a small city in California, we can turn our attention the origin
of the proverb that inspired their study and this article. My research
revealed that many sources credit AADKDA to ancient Romans. But when I
tried to locate any documentation in the historical record, I could not.
Numerous reports on the web also attribute AADKDA to the author of Poor
Richards Almanac and man on America’s $100 bill. Ben Franklin. However,
after having no luck finding anything in writing, I stumbled across a
University of Delaware website based on the works of their longtime professor
and preeminent expert on Benjamin Franklin, the late Dr. Leo Lemay. He
confirmed AADKDA was not one of Mr. Franklins many creations. Doug Andersen DC DACBSP CCN References 916 E. Imperial Hwy. Copyright 2004, G. Douglas Andersen,
DC, DACBSP, CCN, 916 E. Imperial Hwy, Brea, CA 92821, (714) 990-0824 |