This age old saying has never rang with greater promise and authority than it does today. As in the modern era, doctors bring with them a battery of tests, drugs, andinterventions, all of which carry unintended, adverse health risks that often outweigh their purported benefits, and are therefore best avoided whenever possible.
Also, apples are also far cheaper than doctors, and in the worst case scenario of coerced or mandatory treatment can be thrown as a non-deadly (downright nutritious) form of self-defense.
While some might take this opening aphorism as mere folk medicine fantasy, the reality is that the medicinal properties of apple are well-documented within the biomedical literature.