Dr Michael Mosley says there is an everyday fruit that has so many health benefits, including reducing the risk of diabetes, that he urges people to munch on them as often as possible.

Eating fruit and vegetables has long been shown to be vital for maintaining a healthy diet and there are a million different dietary programmes and regimes out there all claiming to help you live longer with superfoods, fancy ingredients and fasting.

However the highly respected presenter and author doctor Michael Mosely has highlighted one very humble, everyday fruit that he urges everyone to eat as often as possible because of the staggering number of wide ranging benefits the crunchy fruit has for our bodies.

He says the simple apple is one of the best fruits you can eat and that the old saying, 'an apple a day keeps the doctor away; really is true after all. They can help with everything from diabetes to cholesterol and gut health. "Eating apples helps produce nitric oxide in the body which can reduce inflammation, improve blood pressure and increase the quantity of healthy bacteria while killing harmful bacteria in the gut," he wrote on his Facebook page.

"Apples have been proven to lower cholesterol, boost a number of vitamins and minerals AND reduce the risk of diabetes." The medical expert, who is touring with his wife Dr Claire Bailey early next year with Eat (well) Sleep (better) Live (longer!) goes on to encourage people to "munch and crunch on an apple as often as you can" and says he likes to finish his meals with one.

His fans were quick to agree with his advice. One said: "Royal Gala fixes stomach acid for me, beats Rennie hands down." Another said: "An apple a day keeps a doctor away -this is what we were taught at school in Finland. But which apple is the healthiest - a green apple or a red one?"

Another was already onto the benefits of the fruit: "Yes apple for me at least 5 days a week," they shared. While another fan raved about the advice in his highly successful books on diet: "Thank you for helping me with your amazing insights in the two books The Fast Diet and The Blood Sugar Diet," they wrote.

"My lifestyle was fast and unhealthy and by gaining an understanding of how my body works I was able to make healthier choices not only for being more healthy but also by being fitter and having more energy."

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