Health conditions like high blood pressure and high cholesterol are often triggered by lifestyle and diet choices.
But the good news is that if certain types of food cause high blood pressure, other types of food can act as the antidote to control it.
Diet guru and TV doctor Dr Michael Mosley recommends a cheap yet nutritious snack that can satisfy your hunger and reduce your blood pressure reading within weeks - in addition boosting other aspects of your health.
Speaking on his podcast Just One Thing, Dr Mosley said: "It's early afternoon and I'm a bit peckish. I'm about to grab a delicious snack that could improve my blood flow, boost my brain and trim my waistline.
"It’s not some exotic superfood. In fact, it's an apple."
How does eating an apple reduce blood pressure?
Eating one apple with the skin on it every day has been shown to reduce blood pressure and improve heart health, according to Michael Mosley, who quoted a recent study.
The study conducted in Western Australia had volunteers eat an apple with a skin and without the skin as well.
Dr Catherine Bondonno, Research Fellow at the Institute of Nutrition Research at Edith Cowan University in Western Australia, told Dr Mosley: "We saw reduction in blood pressure and we saw an improvement in blood vessel function with the apple with the skin, compared to the apple without the skin."
Another clinical trial measured the impact of eating an apple on people with at least one risk factor for heart disease, which means they had either high blood pressure, high cholesterol or were overweight.
Dr Bondonna explained that those who ate apples with the skin on saw "changes" in their blood pressure and blood vessel function after a few weeks.
What are the health benefits of eating apples?
Apples may be small and cheap, but these fruits are packed with tons of nutrients that make them great at cutting our high blood pressure.
Dr Mosley explained: "Apples contain prebiotics, a type of fibre that feeds the good bacteria in your gut, helping reduce inflammation and improve blood pressure."
Apples and their skin contain everything from fibre to flavonoids, which help tame high blood pressure, high cholesterol and inflammation.
