Posts Tagged ‘plant food’

Phytonutrients your personal pharmacy means that it doesn’t take a hike to the Pharmacy; just a few steps to your garden will help heal what ails you.

phytonutrients

Phytonutrients are compounds that naturally occur in plants and provide a range of potential health benefits. It’s believed that the health benefits come from the pigments in fruits and vegetables that give them their vibrant colors. By boosting phytonutrient intake, it can help decrease the risk for certain chronic diseases, including cardiovascular, cancer, and diabetes.

A study, supported by the Nutrilite Health Institute and presented at the Experimental Biology Meeting, April 25, in Anaheim, California, found that despite the availability of a wide range of foods that contain phytonutrients, many Americans are getting phytonutrients from a relatively small number of specific foods that are not necessarily the most concentrated sources.

This shouldn’t come as a surprise; processed food is the food group of choice. With that being the main stay of the American diet, eating has become risky. There is no understanding of what are the primary foods for the human body to function at peak performance.

The next generation will have no compelling evidence, because this is seldom stated as the cause of ill health. The drop in plant consumption has resulted in many of the chronic health conditions plaguing us.

Produce Intake Among Americans

A previous study conducted by the Nutrilite Health Institute concluded that 8 in 10 Americans have a Phytonutrient gap, which translates to a lack of fruit and vegetable intake. If such great things come in small packages that could result in better health you would think that we would partake of it.

If fruits and vegetables were pharmaceuticals we would have the medical community touting the remarkable results that it produced.

Common drugs accelerates mental and physical decline in the elderly. Yet, changing to a good diet curtails both of these events. Pulling all the research together shows that produce promotes health and longevity.

Phytonutrients offer powerful protection optimizing digestive, circulatory, hormone function, bladder, liver, pancreas and vision function.

With all the health giving benefits produce intake which is the foundation of health is quite low. This is more than an apple a day will keep the doctor away. It literally is the fountain of youth that everyone is so intent on seeking. It is right in front of your nose, the plant food that lines the produce department of super-markets, and the farmers markets that spot the landscape.

A Short List of Potential Live Extending Produce

Beta-carotene – carrots

Beta-cryptoxanthin – oranges/orange juice

Lutein/zeaxanthin – spinach

Ellagic acid – strawberries

Isothiocyanates- mustard

For each of these phytonutrients, however, there is a more highly concentrated food that could be chosen instead:

• Beta-carotene – sweet potatoes
  Sweet potatoes have nearly double the beta-carotene compared to carrots in a single serving.
• Beta-cryptoxanthin – papaya
  A serving of fresh papaya has roughly 15 times the beta-cryptoxanthin of an orange.
• Lutein/zeaxanthin – kale
  By substituting cooked kale for raw spinach, it is possible to triple lutein/zeaxanthin intake.
• Ellagic acid – raspberries
  Serving per serving, raspberries have roughly three times the ellagic acid compared to strawberries.
• Isothiocyanates – watercress
  Just one cup of watercress as the basis for a salad has about the same level of isothiocyanates as four teaspoons of mustard.

Polyphenols are the natural life savers that are in the vivid colored fruits and vegetables. This is the non-manufactured life saver.

Research

Researchers have found that baking British garden rhubarb for 20 minutes increases its levels of anti-cancerous chemicals. The findings are from academics at Sheffield Hallam University, together with the Scottish Crop Research Institute, were published in the journal Food Chemistry.

These chemicals, called polyphenols, have been shown to selectively kill or prevent the growth of cancer cells, and could be used to develop new, less toxic treatments, even in cases where cancers have proven resistant to other treatment.

Dr. Nikki Jordan-Mahy, from Sheffield Hallam University’s Biomedical Research Center, said: “Our research has shown that British rhubarb is a potential source of pharmacological agents that may be used to develop new anti-cancerous drugs.”

Plant Polyphenols

The natural source of polyphenols is plants. Dietary polyphnols have caught the attention of nutritionists rather recently. Up till the mid-1990s, the studies centered on antioxidant vitamins, carotenoids, and minerals. After 1995 research began in earnest on flavonoids, and other polyphenols, and their antioxidant properties. Their effects on human health are now being studied.

Polyphenols have been found in a wide array of phytochemical-bearing foods. These include such fruits as apples, blackberries, blueberries, cantaloupe, cherries, cranberries, grapes, pears, plums, raspberries, and strawberries. The highest levels of polyphenols are found in the fruit skins.

Vegetables such as broccoli, cabbage, celery, onion and parsley are rich in polyphenols. Red wine is known for its health benefits, which in large part come from the grapes. Coffee is considered healthy because it is an alternative source of this, as is green tea, olive oil, bee pollen and whole grains.

Studies

Population studies have linked fruit and vegetable consumption with lowering the risk for many chronic conditions. These included heart disease and many cancers. What the medical community wants is to establish proof that documents the role of functional foods in healing.

Population studies found that elderly men with the highest intake of dark green and deep yellow vegetables had about a 46% decrease risk of heart disease compared to those who consumed the least amount. The men who consumed the darkest green and yellow vegetables had about a 70% lower risk of developing cancer than those consuming the lowest amount of these vegetables.

The most interesting part of the study was that the men that consumed the highest level which was more than two (>2.05 and >2.2) servings of dark green and yellow vegetables a day. The men at the lowest level consumed less than one serving daily (<0.8 and <0.7). This is proof that small consistent changes matter. (Gaziano et al. Annals of Epidemiology 1995; 5:255 and Colditz et al. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 1985,:41:32)

This study was one conducted in 1995. Where are all the physicians advocating this diet change for their patients?

While many alternative health and wellness advocates have actually produced some remarkable discoveries, the scientific community has their head in a test tube.

Strategy

Searching for a strategy to remain healthy?  Follow Kathy Bee our nutrition/lifestyle educator with www.yourhealthupdates.com

 httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JNWV9lTlv8

Mango effects on breast and colon cancers shouldn’t come as any surprise, since all colorful fruits and vegetable have an effect on cell proliferation. What is surprising is that some of the most delicious plant foods can protect and help reverse this condition. What is even more unbelievable is that this easy and enjoyable way of preventing these conditions is not being utilized.

Mango

Mango has been found to prevent or stop certain colon and breast cancer cells in the lab. That’s according to a new study by Texas AgriLife Research food scientists, Kent, Francine, Ataulfo, Tommy/Atkins and Haden, who examined the five mango varieties most common in the U.S.
 
“If you look at what people currently perceive as a superfood, people think of high antioxidant capacity, and mango is not quite there,” said Dr. Susanne Talcott, who with her husband, Dr. Steve Talcott, conducted the study on cancer cells. “In comparison with antioxidants in blueberry, acai and pomegranate, it’s not even close.”

“It has about four to five times less antioxidant capacity than an average wine grape, and it still holds up fairly well in anticancer activity. If you look at it from the physiological and nutritional standpoint, taking everything together, it would be a high-ranking super food,” she said. “It would be good to include mangoes as part of the regular diet.”

Mighty Mango

This is neither modern technology coming to the rescue, or fiction. It is a plan everyday fact that whole foods are the exclusive property of nature. There is nothing that will come out of a lab that will create better health.

The Talcotts tested mango polyphenol extracts in vitro on colon, breast, lung, leukemia and prostate cancers. Polyphenols are natural substances in plants and are associated with a variety of compounds known to promote good health.

Mango showed some impact on lung, leukemia and prostate cancers but was most effective on the most common breast and colon cancers.

“What we found is that not all cell lines are sensitive to the same extent to an anticancer agent,” she said. “But the breast and colon cancer lines underwent apoptosis, or programmed cell death. Additionally, we found that when we tested normal colon cells side by side with the colon cancer cells, that the mango polyphenolics did not harm the normal cells.”

Arsenal

The mango should be added to the arsenal of anti-cancer plants. We get sucked into the concept that if it isn’t from a lab it isn’t effective. Ratcheting up our consumption of plant food will create health. Also, it will help reverse many serious conditions.

The point to remember they will do more trials to see if this is relevant, and proceed to do human tests. That will usually be with a version that comes from a lab, in isolated forms, with higher concentrations.

We don’t need more pharmaceuticals. What we need is to consume more fruits and vegetables.