Is it effective as a statin?
For people at low risk of developing heart disease, an apple a day is just as effective as a cholesterol-lowering statin, a leading heart specialist says.
The facts
More than 80 per cent of cardiovascular disease is attributable to environmental factors, notably unhealthy diet and also smoking, alcohol and physical inactivity.
Under current guidelines in the UK, men over the age of 60 and woman older than 65 are routinely offered a statin as a just-in-case measure to prevent heart disease, even if they have only a one-in-10 chance of developing the condition.
Source – BMC Medicine, 2016