Most of us have been told all our lives to eat our vegetables because it will make us healthy. Now dietitians have found yet another reason why we should stuff ourselves with broccoli, cauliflower and the like -- and it goes by the name "phytonutrients."
Experts at the British Dietetic Association describe these as the "disease-fighting dynamos," such as dialyl disulphides and ellagic acid, that are found in all plants. Unlike vitamins and minerals, phytonutrients are not vital to the diet -- but they do appear to offer potential medical benefits.
"Some of the many thousands of active compounds present in fruits, vegetables and other plants have now been identified and shown to have various disease-preventing actions in the laboratory," says Professor Antony Diplock of the International Antioxidant Research at Guy's Hospital in London. Meanwhile, the dietetic association has started a campaign to double the intake of fruits and vegetables to five servings a day.
Some phytonutrients have gotten a bad press, such as broccoli, which President George Bush once ordered banished from the White House, and others have gained singular unpopularity in our childhood, such as cauliflower. But the experts say there are some quite tasty phytonutrients, among them apples, strawberries and carrots and -- for the true gourmet -- shiitake mushrooms.
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