TORONTO - The conventional wisdom about an apple a day keeping the doctor away is getting some added heft from a study of women who snacked on dried apples every day for a year.

The heart-healthy results presented at the Experimental Biology conference in Washington on Tuesday might provide encouragement to anyone trying to get their bad cholesterol levels under control, or even shed a few pounds.

Researchers at Florida State University randomly assigned 160 women aged 45 to 65 to eat either 75 grams of dried apples or 100 grams of prunes each day for a year. The snacks worked out to 240 calories a day for each woman. Otherwise, the women were instructed not to meddle with their normal eating patterns.

Blood samples were taken at three, six and 12 months, and it didn't take long for a change to show up in the women assigned to eat apples.

"To my surprise, in less than six months, it decreased LDL cholesterol 23 per cent and increased HDL a little bit more than three per cent -- three to four per cent. So that's incredible," said co-author Bahram Arjmandi of the university's Department of Nutrition, Food and Exercise Sciences.

"The apple was far more effective in lowering LDL cholesterol and increasing the HDL cholesterol."

The study was partially funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Women in both groups lost a bit of weight, Arjmandi said in an interview. Women in the apple-eating cohort lost on average 3.3 pounds over the course of the study.

Pectin in the fruit is known to have a satiety effect, or contribute to a person feeling full, the researchers indicated.

Arjmandi said the main focus of the study was actually to evaluate the effect of prunes on bone health.

"People who have already experienced loss of bone, they can greatly benefit from consuming dried plum," he said.

"In terms of cholesterol ... I'm not anti-drug, but in the case of cholesterol, if apples work so nicely, why not enjoy life? There is no side-effect associated with (it), or risk ... except benefit, benefit, benefit, and so people should consume one or two apples (a day).

"I think especially cholesterol, borderline cholesterol, easily can be brought under control. That's my simple message."

Those in the apple group also saw a lowering of hydroperoxide levels and C-reactive protein.

Arjmandi said he'd like to do a larger, multi-state trial of 10,000 people to see if the results can be replicated.

A spokesperson for the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada says it's preliminary information that still needs to be validated and confirmed, but he finds it intriguing.

"We are recommending an increased consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables on a daily basis -- between five and 10 portions a day -- and if there's evidence that there's direct benefit from this, then that is good news," said Dr. Andreas Wielgosz, a cardiologist and epidemiologist in Ottawa.

"I think it's somewhat unexpected that apples would be featured in this kind of a benefit, but if there's good evidence in support of that, then I think that's welcome news."

The 23 per cent decline in LDL cholesterol is definitely significant and comparable to the benefit of some drugs that are used to reduce LDL, he said.

"I'm personally very happy to see that this kind of research is being done because I think we need to better understand the benefits of what it is that we're promoting -- heart healthy eating -- and it's surprising how little we know about foods and how much research is still to be done."

Vincent Ziccarelli, a registered dietitian with a master's of science degree, says numerous observational, epidemiological studies have seen an association between eating certain foods, such as apples, and health benefits.

This interventional study is just confirming that, he said from Coquitlam, B.C.

Phenolic compounds in the apples may be contributing to the benefits.

"They're basically compounds that are found in all plant foods, and there are different types in different plant foods. So apples contain a lot of phenolics, specifically they contain quercitin, they also contain catechin. Catechins are also found largely in teas," he said.

Compounds in foods are markers that give us some clues, but at the end of the day, "it seems like there's an intricate balance in these foods that we still don't know about," he said.

The magic mix of compounds that nourishes our bodies and also seems to help prevent and treat disease "can never be emulated into a pill," he said.

"Foods in their whole state are basically showing us that we can't replicate it in a pill because vitamin supplements can never show the same results."