Tow 7: "The Fruit That Really Does Keep the Doctor Away"

Most children have heard the expression “an apple a day keeps the doctor away” repeated by parents and other adults, and have simply rolled their eyes while allowing this cliché saying to go in one ear and out the other. However, according to “The Fruit That Really Does Keep the Doctor Away” by Linda Collier Cool of Yahoo Health Online, multiple recent studies prove that there are numerous reasons to actually abide by this common parental advice.

            This attention-catching article cites reputable sources such as a study published in the British Medical Journal and a novel written by the executive editor of Reader’s Digest to provide evidence for the claim that apples are one of the most health-benefiting foods. According to the long and varying list of health perks provided by Cool, apples seem to in some way assist nearly every aspect of human health. The author’s purpose in writing this article was to inform the general American public of the many widely unknown healing qualities of a very common fruit. By doing so, Cool is implicitly encouraging people to include this food in their diet as much as possible in order to reap these benefits.

            The author was able to communicate her purpose very clearly in this article through use of a list as a structural format. Instead of throwing all of her knowledge on the subject into a few paragraphs, where certain important pieces of information might have been easily missed among a sea of facts, Cool was very careful and clever in her structural organization. By breaking the article up into a list of very short paragraphs, each detailing one specific health benefit of apples, the author was able to effectively hold the reader’s attention for the duration of the article.

            As somebody who personally loves apples, I may have already been inclined to agree with the author from the very offset of my reading this article. Nevertheless, I feel that Cool was very effectual with her presentation of facts, and likely encouraged many readers to include apples as a more regular part of their diet.