An apple a day could keep the undertaker away. Scientists have linked the fruit with a longer life at least in flies. Fruit flies, which share many genes with humans despite their tiny size, were either fed normally or had an apple extract added.  Those fed normally lived an average of 50 days – five days fewer than those whose food was supplemented with apple, the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry reports.

Not only did the flies given the apple extract live ten per cent longer, they also found it easier to walk, climb and move about as they aged. The apple extract also cut levels of various biochemicals found in older fruit flies and linked to age-related deterioration.