HEALTH TIPS:How an apple a day could keep the cardiologist away - by lowering 'bad' cholesterol

Daily fruit lowered 'bad' cholesterol in the blood by 40% in middle-aged adults

Apples were found to be more effective than a supplement containing an antioxidant found in the fruit

A new study suggests that eating apples each day could significantly improve the heart health of middle-aged adults in 

just one month.

Those who ate a daily apple over four weeks lowered 'bad' cholesterol in the blood by 40 per cent - a substance linked 

to hardening of the arteries.

Taking capsules containing polyphenols, a type of antioxidant found in apples, had a similar, but not as large, effect.

'Bad' cholesterol or low-density lipoprotein (LDL) can 

interact with free radicals to become oxidized, which can 

trigger inflammation and can cause tissue damage. 

Research leader, Professor Robert DiSilvestro, from Ohio 

State University, said: 'When LDL becomes oxidized, it 

takes on a form that begins atherosclerosis, or hardening 

of the arteries.

'We got a tremendous effect against LDL being oxidized with just one apple a day for four weeks.'

The difference was similar to that found between people with normal coronary arteries versus those with coronary artery disease, he said.

The study, funded by an apple industry group, is published online in the Journal of Functional Foods and will appear in a future print edition.