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Digestive Health Summit – March 2005: Abstracts
Phytochemicals and Cancer
David Heber, MD, PhD, FACP, FACN
University of California, Los Angeles
The intake of 400-600 g/d of fruits and vegetables is associated with reduced incidence of many common forms of cancer, and diets rich in plant foods are also associated with a reduced risk of heart disease and many chronic diseases of aging. These foods contain phytochemicals that have anticancer and anti-inflammatory properties which confer many of the health benefits. Many phytochemicals are colorful, and recommending a wide array of colorful fruits and vegetables is an easy way to communicate increased diversity of intake to the consumer. For example, red foods contain lycopene, the pigment in tomatoes, which is localized in the prostate gland and may be involved in maintaining prostate health, and which has also been linked with a decreased risk of cardiovascular disease. Green foods, including broccoli, Brussels sprouts and kale, contain glucosinolates which have also been associated with decreased cancer risk. Garlic and other white-green foods in the onion family contain allyl sulfides which may inhibit cancer cell growth. Dried plums, a red-purple food, contain large amounts of phenolic compounds (184 mg/100 g) mainly as neochlorogenic and chlorogenic acids. Phenolic compounds in dried plums have been shown to inhibit human LDL oxidation in vitro, and dried plums score high in antioxidant capacity by the ORAC test - about 5700 ORAC units per 100 g. Consumers are advised to ingest one serving of each of the seven color groups daily, putting this recommendation within the United States National Cancer Institute and American Institute for Cancer Research guidelines of five to nine servings per day.
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