Wholefoods
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Variety, the spice of life, is also the path to good health. In recent years researchers have shown that various
phytochemicals--substances that plants use to ward off insects, viruses, bacteria, and cell mutations--can lessen
disease risk in people and animals who dine on the plants containing them. Phytochemicals affect the color of many
vegetables and fruits; hence the advice to eat a rainbow of produce has replaced the old view that green is supreme.
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Now, new research suggests that combining certain fruits and vegetables in a single meal boosts their disease-fighting
power. Laboratory animals fed a combination of tomatoes and broccoli had markedly less prostate-tumor growth than those
that ate either food alone, according to a recently presented study scheduled to appear in the Journal of Nutrition.
That?s good reason to fill your diet with dishes that combine a wide variety of vegetables and fruits. Choose real foods
over supplements of lutein, lycopene, or other phytonutrients, so that you get the whole range of plant chemicals--plus
the fiber, which reduces the risk of some cancers, helps the heart, and aids in weight control. The table below lists the
possible benefits of some phytochemicals in different-colored produce.
The bottom line is to combine not just tomatoes and broccoli, but a range of different vegetables because of the ways
they may interact.
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