Phytochemicals and Antioxidants (Foods that Fight Disease)

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Today were going to discuss phytochemicals and antioxidants the substances in our foods that fight disease.

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Our mothers have been telling us for years to eat our vegetables. Now scientists are finding out why. It turns out that fruits and vegetables are loaded with compounds called phytochemicals and antioxidants. These substances possess powerful protective health benefits. What are phytochemicals? Are they like vitamins and minerals? Actually no; phyto comes from the Latin word for plant. So, phyto-chemicals are protective chemicals found only in plants.

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Which ones? Actually, all plant foodsfruits, vegetables, beans, grains, seeds, and nuts, even herbshave thousands of phytochemicals. Yet these food chemicals are not available from any animal products. Antioxidants, like phytochemicals, are also natural chemicals found in food, though not limited to just plant foods. These antioxidants are compounds that prevent or repair damage to cells caused by highly reactive substances called free radicals.

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Free radicals are produced in our bodies and can set the stage for conditions such as:

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Cancer Heart disease Premature aging and Cataracts

In fact, they are known to play a role in numerous diseases.1

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Certain lifestyle habits such as eating a high fat diet, smoking, and drinking alcohol promote more rapid and extensive cell damage. Because free radicals cannot be entirely avoided, it is important to strengthen our bodys antioxidant defenses.

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The richest sources of these natural chemical defenders are unrefined plant foods. Whether its fruit, vegetables, whole grains, beans, or nuts, study after study continues to reveal the protective benefits of plantbased foods. But how much is the average person benefiting from them? Not nearly enough!

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Around the world people are eating less of these protective plant foods, and experiencing more and more degenerative diseases.

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A recent survey of American eating habits, showed that only 1 in 11 Americans succeeded in reaching the recommended minimum goal of eating

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at least 3 servings of vegetables

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and 2 servings of fruit each day.2 Here are some more findings.3

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Only 20 % eat fruits or vegetables rich in carotenoid (pronounced ka-rott-enoid) anti-oxidantsfound in most yellow-orange and dark green vegetables and fruit, (such as cantaloupe, spinach, and carrots).

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Only 18% eat vegetables from the cabbage family (like cauliflower, cabbage, and broccoli).

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Only 59 % eat fruit on a regular basis.

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Only 28% eat fruits or vegetables rich in Vitamin C (such as, citrus fruit, strawberries, or red and green peppers),

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and only 16% eat high-fiber, whole grain foods (like breads and cereals made with brown rice, oats, and whole wheat).

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What benefits can we expect by eating more of these fruits and vegetables? Quite a few; our Creator has made our bodies with the ability to prevent and reverse many diseases, if we will only provide them with the nutrition they need. If we were to tell you of a simple, proven method to cut your personal risk of cancer by 50%, would you be interested?

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Worldwide, cancer has become one of the greatest thieves of personal health, happiness, and life itself. Yet more than 200 major scientific studies over the past 25 years, have consistently shown that those who eat largely of plant foods are about half as likely to experience cancer as those who eat few plant foods.4

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Not only does this kind of diet lower the risk of cancer, it also significantly reduces the risk of Heart disease, Adult diabetes, High blood pressure, and other lifestyle diseases.5 Plant foods loaded with phytochemicals and antioxidants do much more than help prevent disease, they also fight it!

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So, which fruits and vegetables contain the most powerful disease fighting properties? Probably all of them.

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While some appear to offer greater protection than others, its probably only because these foods have been studied more. For example, soybeans and their products such as tofu and soy milk, are packed full of protective phytochemicals. Studies suggest that soy foods decrease the risk of many types of cancer, including6

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Breast Colon Rectal Lung7 and Stomach

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The phytochemicals found in whole grains, such as wheat, rice, and oats have been shown to reduce the risk of two of the greatest killers worldwidecancer and cardiovascular diseases (including heart attacks and strokes).8

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These protective phytochemicals are concentrated within the bran and germparts usually removed in the refining process. Refined wheat, for example, contains about 200 to 300 times less of these protective phytochemicals!

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Because of this, we can achieve the greatest health benefits by choosing whole grains, like whole wheat and brown rice, instead of refined grain products and white rice.

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Most scientists believe that the best strategy for improved health and lowered disease risk is to eat a wide variety of fruits, nuts, grains, and vegetables, instead of isolating certain ones.

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What about supplements? Before you plan to purchase phytochemical and antioxidant supplements, there are a few things you should consider.

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Its estimated that a single tomato has

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over 10,000 different phytochemicals in it.9 What supplement can compete with this? Will the wisdom of man ever find an equivalent to Gods creation?
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In addition, when taken in high doses, outside of their natural food sources, antioxidants have the potential to upset the balance of the system. They can suppress the action of other antioxidants, turn into harmful free radicals themselves, or even become toxic to the body.10 As with most thingsand especially things that come in pills and bottlestoo much of a good thing, can be a bad thing.

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Besides this, most nutritionists agree that supplements cannot provide the same protection as eating the natural foods themselves.

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In the beginning God advised man as to which foods were designed to keep our bodies in the best of health.11

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And God said, See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the land, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food.12
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Gods original plant-based diet is still the best. More than 6,000 years later, science is proving it, and common sense tells us it is so.

Ludington, Aileen, and Diehl, Hans; 2000, Health Power, Review and Herald Publishing, Hagerstown, Maryland, p. 136 B Patterson, G Block, WF Rosenberger, et al. Fruits and vegetables in the American diet: data from the NHANES II survey. Am J Public Health 1990;80:1443-49. 3 Ludington, Aileen, and Diehl, Hans; 2000, Health Power, Review & Herald Publishing, Hagerstown, Maryland, p. 134 4 The Director of the National Cancer Institutes division of Cancer Prevention and Control, as reported in Better Nutrition, May 1994, p. 20 5 A Bloch, CA Thomson. Position of The American Dietetic Association: phytochemicals and functional foods. J Am Diet Assoc 1995;95:493-96. 6 Ludington, Aileen, and Diehl, Hans; 2000, Health Power, Review and Herald Publishing, Hagerstown, Maryland, p. 135
2 7 8 LU Thompson. Potential health benefits of whole grains and their components. Contemp Nutr 1992;17(6):1-2. as read in an article by Winston Craig, Andrews University. http://www.andrews.edu/NUFS/phyto.html 9 Lowry, (R.D.) Eve; Phytochemicals lecture script, NutriVisuals, Shingle Springs, CA, 1997 10 Ludington, Aileen, and Diehl, Hans; 2000, Health Power, Review and Herald Publishing, Hagerstown, Maryland, p. 136 11 (Gen. 1:29, 3:18). 12 Gen 1:29 Amplified Bible