“…keeps the doctor away.”
Any truth to this? Are apples extra full of vitamins?
And what is the origin of the saying?
An apple a day keeps the doctor away… if you can hit the target. 
I guess the serious answer is that apples, like many other fruits, have vitamins and other goodies so, in a sense, they do help your good healh. I never heard “a pound of twinkies a day will keep the doctor away”.
Recently I saw a bag of apples with the slogan “Two a day…” on it, so I guess the health value of an apple is on the decline…
Gp
I know used to know a proctologist (not intimately) who really did advise his patients to eat an apple a day. Apples contain petctin, a kind of water-soluble fiber, which he thought was the best kind of fiber for preventing colon cancer.
Apples aren’t really very high in vitamins, considering that they’re fruit. On the other hand, they have a good bit of fiber, so eating them on a ahem regular basis should keep your bowels in order. For some people, this is an important sign of health.
“Two a day” probably refers to the “five a day” recommendation: two servings of fruits and three of vegetables a day, for a total of five servings from the Obviously Plant Food Group.
Check out The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan. He devotes a quarter of the book to apples and how they have been shaped by humans (and shaped human society in turn).
“An apple a day keeps the doctor away” was coined in the 1920s by the apple growing industry in response to prohibition. Prior to the 20th century most apples were grown for cider, not for eating. When prohibition killed the cider market the apple growers launched a PR campaign to reposition their product as something healthy and wholesome. So … no, there’s nothing particularly special about apples – it’s just 75-year-old marketing hype.
Well it would eventually, cause you’d probably end up dead of malnutrition , hence no need for a doctor! 
bibliophage hit the nail on the head. It’s all about fiber and being regular! The most common discernable reason for a child’s complaint of abdominal pain is constipation. And it’s certainly true in my practice; I’ve diagnosed a hundred times more cases of constipation than appendicitis.
While an apple a day is fine, the actual origin of the saying was not created for health by medical people. Many years ago, in a book of facts, I read where the famous saying was actually created by the apple growers and sellers to increase the sales of their fruits. Apples are not the most nutritious of fruits available and oranges are actually better for one.
We have similar things happening today, where companies promote the benefits of their products and we discover that their claims are exaggerated, but their action sold a lot of goods.
[Doctor]
Take two and don’t bother calling me in the morning
[/Doctor]
Many thanks, folks, and especially for this post.
According to Gary Larson, “One apple every eight hours keeps three doctors away.”
My father used to say “An apple a day keeps the doctor away, but two apples a day brings him right to your doorstep.” Is that an actual saying, or is that just another of my dad’s attempts to be funny?
You must have a funny dad, and a wise one.
It sounds to me that he’s advising 'moderation, ie, not taking too much of a good thing.