When it comes to protecting your health, experts say to go
for fruits and vegetables in the richest hues. The latest
research can't say for sure whether colorful antioxidant-rich
foods help stave off Alzheimer's, the disease that riddles
memory and strangles brain cells with plaque. But a diet low
in saturated fat with fewer calories might work better,
especially when combined with a rainbow of fruits and
vegetables.
Such a healthy diet might also protect you from heart disease
and colon and prostate cancers.
The best part? It's simple and delicious.
All it takes is filling your plate with color -- red, yellow-
orange, green, purple and blue -- something experts have been
urging for years. There's no sacrifice in a fresh spinach
salad with roasted red peppers and hazelnuts, tossed with an
oil-based vinaigrette, full fat, since the oil provides
vitamin E. Or dried blueberries and slivered almonds over
fiber-rich morning oatmeal and a cup of green tea.
Today's daily menus, recipes, and list of foods high in
antioxidants offer lots of ideas to get you started.
Intensely colored foods, such as tomatoes, peppers,
blueberries and spinach, are packed with antioxidants,
including vitamins (such as C and E), carotenoids (such as
beta carotene, lycopene), minerals (such as selenium), and
polyphenols (in red wine and tea). Eaten regularly, say
scientists, they help slow cell oxidation, which is what
happens as we age.
No one really knows whether it is the antioxidants or many
different phytochemicals and nutrients working together that
make diets rich in fruits and vegetables so healthy. This is
the new idea of food synergy.
Certain combinations in or of foods may have health benefits
greater than the sum of their parts. In other words, 2 plus 2
could equal more than 4.
The synergy concept might extend to supplements. A Johns
Hopkins study says some antioxidant supplements, particularly
vitamins E and C together, may reduce the risk of developing
Alzheimer's. But the amounts and combinations (including with
or without multivitamins) are still unknown.
The Linus Pauling Institute, which studies vitamins, minerals
and plant chemicals and their roles in human health, favors
taking a multivitamin (containing 100 percent of the daily
value for most vitamins and essential nutrients), as well as
antioxidant supplements such as vitamins C and E.
Experts have always suggested we get our antioxidants through
diet, but increasingly they advocate taking supplements, too.
Many Americans already do that as health insurance,
encouraged by studies where antioxidants improved the
memories of research animals and helped them complete
tasks.
Whether a lifetime of better eating wards off Alzheimer's is
still up for debate. But it's guaranteed that eating more
fruits and vegetables can lower blood pressure, reducing the
risk of heart disease and other chronic conditions.
2004 Dr. Reuven Bruner. All Rights Reserved.
For more information contact Dr. Bruner at: POB 1903,
Jerusalem, 91314, Israel; Tel: (02) 652-7684; Mobile: 052 865-
821; Fax: (02) 652-7227; Email: dr_bruner@hotmail.com
