Unlike vitamins and minerals the thousands of phytochemicals in plants don’t seem to have any nutritive value, but they apparently protect the body against cancer, heart disease and other illnesses.
The best known Phytochemical is beta-carotene, the vitamin A precursor found in carrots, sweet potatoes and greens; it is believed to prevent oxidation offree radicals, which can turn cells cancerous. Broccoli, cabbage and other members of the brassica family contain sulforaphane as well as indoles and isothiocyanates, which appear to fight various cancers. And a majority of studies have linked the allyl sulfides in allium vegetables such as garlic and onions with lower rates of gastrointestinal cancer according to the journal Phytomedicine.
If all this puts you in the mood for pasta primavera skip the high-fat Aifredo sauce and go for the classic red stuff. Tomatoes are teeming with phytochemicals, as many as 10000 of them. Leading the pack is Iycopene-the nutrient that gives tomatoes their color-which has potent antioxidant properties. Journal of Epidemiology stated that those who ate the most lycopene rich foods lowered their risk of heart attack by 50 percent. (If you were scared by a tomato as a child, you can also find lycopene in apricots, guava, pink grapefruit and watermelon.) Trading & slice of chocolate cheesecake for a fruit cocktail of grapes, strawberries and raspberries (a good idea in any case) provides ellagic acid, a tannin that may block enzymes needed for cancer cells to reproduce.
Keep sipping that tea. It contains quercetin, which seems to block the formation of Cancer causing compounds. If you’re a mocha only man, you can also find this flavonoid in apples, purple grape juice and red wine, though the richest sources are red and yellow onions. A study at the Mayo Clinic found that quercetin may be particularly successful at inhibiting prostate cancer.
Polyphenols, part of the flavonoid family, are plentiful in fruits, vegetables and many grains, but another large group of phytochemicals-the phytoestrogens- is found primarily in tofu and other soy-based foods; they are linked to lower rates of hormone-dependent tumors, such as breast and prostate cancers.
Perhaps the most important phytoestrogen is the isoflavone genistein, which may keep cancerous tumors from growing. Results from a study sponsored by the National Cancer Institute indicate that a diet rich in soy protein helps lower cholesterol and the subsequent risk of atherosclerosis, plus it may reduce the incidence of colon and prostate cancers. (Sorry, sodium lovers, soy sauce loses its genistein during processing.)
If you can’t tell a phyto from a flavo, don’t worry. Due to genetic variations, not everyone gets the same benefits from the same foods, so sticking to a handful of top performers may not work for you, What does work, according to scientists at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, is increasing your intake of various vegetables to at least four servings a day. Your heart, your prostate, and numerous other significant body parts will thank you for it.