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It's not going to keep the doctor away, but an apple a day will keep the pharmacist away, a new study suggests.

New findings revealed that apple consumption could significantly reduce the need to take prescription medications.

The latest study involved data from 8,399 survey participants from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2007-2008 and 2009-2010). After completing a dietary recall questionnaire, researchers defined 753 (9 percent) were apple eaters and 7,646 (91 percent) were non-apple eaters.

While the study revealed no significant difference between apple eaters and non-apple eaters when it came to keeping the doctor away, researchers found that apple eaters were significantly less likely to take prescription medications.

Apple eaters were also more likely to be from an ethnic minority and were significantly less likely to smoke.

"Our findings suggest that the promotion of apple consumption may have limited benefit in reducing national health care spending. In the age of evidence-based assertions, however, there may be merit to saying 'An apple a day keeps the pharmacist away,'" researchers concluded.

The latest findings were published online in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine.