subject: What You Don't Know About Plant Nutrients May Be Hazardous To Your Health [print this page] How many times have you heard your mother or grandmother say, "Make sure you eat all your vegetables." But they did not know how valuable this advice is in light of modern scientific research about plant nutrients. By eating just one vegetable of your choice, your body also receives hundreds of special phytonutrients and their health benefits.
Phytonutrients or phytochemicals are abundant micronutrients found in plants in leaves, stems, roots. Plants use them for protection from the environment, and now bioscientists are recommending them for protection in human cells. There is a definite correlation between natural plant profiles and how they support the levels of biochemicals used in human metabolism.
Here are 7 ways that even basic phytonutrition education can begin to change health and diet:
1. There are three elements found in vitamins, namely Carbon, Hydrogen and Oxygen. The same elements are found in anti-oxidants and phytonutrients in various combinations. This begs the question why only a handful of vitamins are touted as exclusive stand-outs from the remaining combinations. It would be impossible to formulate pills for all the current and future phytonutrients...although some companies will try for profit. It is best to eat your phytonutrients. For example, blueberries by virtue of plant pigments called anthocyanins have 2400 times the anti-oxidant power of Vitamin A. There are 40 anthocyanins and maybe 300 other compounds working together.
2. The anecdotal restorative properties of traditional herbal medicines are now being verified in scientific studies. Researchers with the USDA have found that herbs are an abundant source of antioxidants and could provide many healthy benefits when supplementing a balanced diet. Herbs have higher antioxidant activity than fruits, vegetables and some spices. In fact, people should use more herbs for flavoring instead of salt and artificial chemicals. Herbs may contain powerful pharmacologic agents because many of the important drugs used today are derived from herbs:
(a) white willow bark led to aspirin
(b) Mexican wild yam led to birth control pills
(c) -foxglove led to digitalis
(d) periwinkle led to vinblastine and vincristine (two anti-cancer drugs) and many more
3. Include seaweed vegetables in your diet or supplement because they are particularly rich in protein and also contain carotenoids, vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids. They show properties such as antioxidant, antiviral, anticancer, anti-allergy, immune -enhancing, liver-protecting and blood lipid-lowering effects. Seaweed draws an extraordinary wealth of mineral elements from the sea that can account for up to 36% of its dry mass (macronutrients: sodium, calcium, magnesium, potassium, chorine, sulfur, phosphorus and trace elements: iodine, iron, zinc, copper, selenium, molybdenum, fluoride, manganese, boron, nickel and cobalt). Seaweed is one of the richest plant sources of calcium.
4. Become very familiar with a phytonutrient from the sulforaphane family which contain isothiocyanates . They have shown prevention of various animal cancers such as lung, breast, esophagus, liver, small intestine and bladder. They are potent anti-oxidants and stimulators of natural detoxifying enzymes in the body. They help to lower blood pressure and the body's inflammatory response, leading to better cardiovascular health.
In fact, research done in the 1950's was very exciting, but largely forgotten. It showed the effects of diet on the body's response to X-rays.The report was that guinea pigs exposed to whole body radiation had lower mortality and hemorrhaging when previously fed on cabbage than when prefed on beets. .Further investigation showed that all control animals without cabbage died rom X-radiation except for animals that got oats, wheat bran, supplemented with raw cabbage which had a 52% survival rate. Broccoli was found to be even more protective. The notion that something as "simple" as cabbage to protect against something as potent as radiation was unheard of and not taken seriously.
5. Libraries of information exist about vitamins, but phytonutrients are new-comers to the health table. It's rather not surprising to see the scurry of companies trying to capitalize on new research trends. In fact, there is currently a sort of phyto-information war going on. On one side, pill-makers are trying to package and promote phytonutrient supplements as the new magic cure-all. On the other side, the researchers are trying to determine scientifically just what phytochemicals are in which foods and their benefits.
The best advice is to eat the real thing. Get your phytos from food, not just from pills. Like other nutrients, phytos operate under the biochemical principle of synergy (1+1=3). Eating a whole tomato is better than swallowing a pill that contains a chemical called lycopene isolated from a tomato. By eating a few florets of broccoli you're not only getting the beta carotene you could get in a pill, but you're also getting the health benefits of hundreds or thousands of other phytos that don't even have names yet.
6. Researchers have identified the top twelve PHYTO foods. While nearly all plant foods contain health-promoting phytochemicals, the following are the most phyto-dense food sources:
SOY
TOMATO
BROCCOLI
GARLIC
FLAXSEED
CITRUS FRUITS
MELONS (cantaloupe)
PINK GRAPEFRUIT
BLUEBERRIES
SWEET POTATOES
CHILI PEPPERS
LEGUMES (beans/lentils)
BIG PERSONAL HEALTH QUESTION: How many of these phyto-rich foods are on your shopping list?
7. Start to believe in BIONUTRITION. Start to believe that the body has a great ability to rebuild, repair and defend itself against oxidative stress or free radicals. This can be called bionutrition because the cells are receiving essential micronutrients at a level that provides health benefits. Start to believe that the greatest advances in medicine over the next years are not going to be in manufactured pills or drugs but in nutritional science already approved in Nature's Pharmacy.
In summary, get better information about the medicinal qualities of phytonutrients, phytonutrition and Nature's pharmacy. Food is your medicine. Be able to identify the dietary habits that sabotage or diminish your amazing cells. The breakthrough is to stop believing you are a victim surrounded by external circumstances. Get to know your fresh fruits and vegetables in a personal way rather than processed "stuffs." Your body is your temple. Your food is its structure. Your will to good health and longevity is its light.
