The Healing Power of Phytonutrients

Phytonutrients refer to the healing properties found in plant pigments. Quite simply, phyto means “plant.”  They don’t just add color to fruits, vegetables and certain seafood: They also serve as the top dietary sources of disease-preventive and anti-aging, anti-inflammatory antioxidants.  Mother Nature makes it easy to choose her most nutrient-rich fare: Simply choose the deepest, most intensely colored fruits, vegetables, seaweeds, and seafood, and while you’re at it make sure they’re organic fruits and vegetables and wild-caught seafood, because the nutrient content will be higher and they will be better for your body without the unwanted chemicals. 

Researchers have identified almost two thousand different phytonutrient pigments in plant foods, many of which are antioxidants.  There has been a very useful scale developed which helps measure the capacity of a substance to help neutralize free radicals.  (Free radicals are highly reactive agents which are missing an electron and do damage to cellular membranes by robbing them of theirs.)  This scale measures the antioxidant potential and is called the oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) scale and helps us identify which foods have the most promising potential to help us prevent disease. 

It is recommended by researchers that we consume foods each day that total 3,000 – 5,000 ORAC units.   It just so happens that those foods that have the richest color contain the most ORAC units.  Prunes and raisins are at the top of the list with ORAC scores of 5,770 and 2,830 units per 100 grams (about 3.5 ounces).  So it’s not too difficult to obtain the necessary antioxidants from the foods we eat—or is it.  According to a recent survey, the top nine foods Americans eat are: whole cow’s milk, 2% milk, processed cheese, white bread, white flour, white rolls, refined sugar, coca cola, and ground beef.  Now if that’s your diet then you may be in trouble, because this diet lacks vitamins, minerals, fiber and the antioxidants contained in phytonutrients. 

For instance, let’s take blueberries.  Blueberries are wonderful for your brain. Until very recently the belief that cognitive and motor skills declining as we age is both inevitable and irreversible.  Consider the impaired sense of balance that is one of the telltale signs of aging. A young person can usually stand on one leg much longer than an older person. This is caused from the impaired conduction of neural signals that is typical of aging.  It turns out that daily doses of blueberries are the only treatment known that can reverse the deterioration of motor function with aging!

As a second example let’s look at green superfoods.  Here, I’m referring to a group of foods that includes young cereal grasses such as barley, kamut, and wheat grass, as well as spirulina, blue-green algae, not to mention sea vegetables such as kelp, dulse and nori.  Nutritionally, many of these foods are close cousins to dark green leafy vegetables, but they offer far greater levels of nutrient density. 

The results of many experimental studies show that green foods have marked beneficial effects on cholesterol, blood pressure, immune response, and cancer prevention.  These effects are in large part due to their high concentrations of chlorophyll.

Chlorophyll, the phytochemical that gives leaves, plants, and algae their green hues, is the plant equivalent of the oxygen-carrying red pigment hemogloblin in red blood cells and is known to inhibit disease carrying bacteria and helps balance the pH of the body, which is often too acidic due to eating the Standard American Diet. (SAD)

If you feel you may not be getting enough phytonutrients from your diet you may want to consider using whole food concentrates to supplement your diet.

References: 

Perricone, Nicholas, M.D.,  The Perricone Promise, New York; Warner Books, 2004