Apples Fight Fat!

Eating apples may help reduce LDL cholesterol in postmenopausal women. The Los Angeles Times (4/12, Kaplan) "Booster Shots" blog reported that "an apple a day really can help keep the doctor away, at least for postmenopausal women," according to research presented at Experimental Biology 2011. Researchers found, "in study of 160 women who ate either dried apples or prunes daily for one year," that "the women who ate apples saw their low-density lipoprotein cholesterol...drop by 23% after six months. At the same time, their" HDL cholesterol "rose about 4% over the course of the study." WebMD (4/12, Goodman) reported that "the women in the apple group" also "lost weight -- an average of about 3 pounds over the course of a year." HealthDay (4/12, Gordon) reported that "daily apple consumption also significantly lowered levels of C-reactive protein and lipid hydroperoxide, two substances that may indicate an increased risk of heart disease. What effects, if any, the prunes had on cholesterol levels were not mentioned in the study abstract."