Vegetable by Ray Sahelian, M.D. Health benefit of Vegetables and vegetable juices

People who eat their vegetables may help keep their minds sharp into old ages. Fruit, on the other hand, seems to have less of a benefit. Researchers found that among more than 3,700 older adults they followed for six years, those who ate plenty of vegetables showed a significantly slower rate of decline in memory and other mental abilities. Compared with men and women who ate the fewest vegetables -- typically less than a serving a day -- those who ate around three servings or more per day had a 40 percent slower rate of decline on tests of cognitive function. The findings suggest that something about vegetables, such as their concentration of certain nutrients, makes them particularly effective in preserving mental acuity into old age. Neurology, October 24, 2006. Include a few servings of vegetables in your diet on a daily basis.

List of vegetables
Eggplant vegetable extract is being promoted as a cure for cancer and as a way to lose weight although I am not able to find any human research that supports these claims.
Pumpkin vegetable is a member of the gourd family
Purple corn vegetable is starting to become more popular
Tomatoes and tomato products have the antioxidant Lycopene. Tomatoes, for culinary purposes, are classified as a vegetable but botanically they are a fruit.
Wasabi is Japanese horseradish.
Watercress supplementation reduces DNA damage.
Woad is a member of the cabbage family.
Yacon is from South America
Yucca root has a waxy texture.

Cabbage family vegetables
Wasabi, woad.

Gourd family
Pumpkin

Types of vegetables
Vegetables can be classified into groups, such as:
Leafy green – lettuce, spinach
Crucifer – cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and broccoli. Cruciferous vegetables are a major dietary source of isothiocyanates that protect against coronary heart disease. Isothiocyanates induce glutathione S-transferases, polymorphic genes that code for enzymes that conjugate isothiocyanates, as well as mutagens and reactive oxygen species, to make them more readily excretable. Cruciferous vegetables also have Indole3Carbinol, an anti-cancer agent now available as a supplement.
   Eating raw, but not cooked, cruciferous vegetables helps protect against the development of bladder cancer. Cruciferous vegetables, such as broccoli and cabbage, have high levels of isothiocyanates (ITCs), which are cancer prevention agents especially promising in bladder cancer prevention.
   Cruciferous vegetable intake consistent with high isothiocyanate exposure reduces breast cancer risk.
Curcurbits – pumpkin, cucumber and zucchini
Root – potato, sweet potato and yam, along with yucca root
Edible plant stem – celery and asparagus
Allium – onion, garlic and shallot. You can find a Garlic supplement here.

Vegetables and colon cancer risk
Diets rich in fruit and deep-yellow vegetables, dark-green vegetables, and onions and garlic reduce the risk of colorectal adenoma, a precursor of colon cancer.

Vegetable intake and mental health
Associations of vegetable and fruit consumption with age-related cognitive change.
Neurology. 2006 Oct 24;67(8):1370-6. Morris MC, Evans DA, Tangney CC, Bienias JL, Wilson RS. Rush Institute for Healthy Aging, 1645 W. Jackson, Ste. 675, Chicago, IL
To examine the association between rates of cognitive change and dietary consumption of fruits and vegetables among older persons. The authors conducted a prospective cohort study of 3,718 participants, aged 65 years and older of the Chicago Health and Aging Project. Participants completed a food frequency questionnaire and were administered at least two of three cognitive assessments at baseline, 3-year, and 6-year follow-ups. CONCLUSION: High vegetable but not fruit consumption may be associated with slower rate of cognitive decline with older age.

Immunity and antioxidant capacity in humans is enhanced by consumption of a dried, encapsulated fruit and vegetable juice concentrate.
J Nutr. 2006 Oct;136(10):2606-10. Nantz MP, Rowe CA, Nieves C Jr, Percival SS. Food Science and Human Nutrition Department University of Florida Gainesville, Florida 32611, USA.
The daily consumption of fruits and vegetables is a common dietary recommendation to support good health. We hypothesized that a commercially available encapsulated fruit and vegetable juice powder concentrate could support functional indices of health due to increased intake of various phytonutrients. This was a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled investigation of 59 healthy law students who consumed either fruit and vegetable juice powder concentrate or placebo capsules for 77 d. Blood was collected on d 1, 35, and 77 to examine the number of circulating alphabeta- and gammadelta-T cells, cytokine production, lymphocyte DNA damage, antioxidant status, and levels of carotenoids and vitamin C. A log of illnesses and symptoms was also kept. The fruit and vegetable juice powder concentrate group tended to have fewer total symptoms than the placebo group (P < 0.076). By d 77 there was a 30% increase in circulating gammadelta-T cells and a 40% reduction in DNA damage in lymphocytes in the fruit and vegetable juice powder concentrate group relative to the placebo group. Plasma levels of vitamin C and of beta-carotene, lycopene, and lutein increased significantly from baseline in the fruit and vegetable juice powder concentrate group as did plasma oxygen radical absorptive capacity (50%). Interferon-gamma produced by phorbol-stimulated lymphocytes was reduced 70% in the FVJC group, whereas other cytokines (IL-4, IL-6, transforming growth factor beta) were unchanged relative to treatment or time.  Fruit and vegetable juice powder concentrate consumption during this study period resulted in increased plasma nutrients and antioxidant capacity, reduction in DNA strand breaks, and an increase in circulating gammadelta-T cells.

Vegetable eating by a baby
A mother can help her baby develop a taste for fruits and vegetables early by eating these foods herself while breastfeeding and, once solids are introduced, by offering her baby these foods regularly, even if the baby is not initially enthusiastic about eating vegetables.

Vegetable questions
Q. I am a Registered Dietitian and a Juice Plus Distributor. I have been a distributor for over a year but have recently began doubting the product, the research, the marketing. I am in pursuit of truth and evidence of a the product being as worthy and grand as I am told through the company, doctors within the company, and my upline. Do you have any research, opinions, or analysis of the product being an unbiased source? I would appreciate any feedback that you have as I was impressed with your newsletter that my father forwarded me.
   A. We prefer not to comment on products made by other companies. Juice Plus probably has some good fruit and vegetable extracts but we have no idea of the quality control or how it is put together. As a general rule, it is a good idea to not rely exclusively on one product but to alternate different ones. One also wonders whether consuming a few ounces of fresh, mixed vegetables juices provides as good or better amounts of antioxidants, flavonoids, carotenoids, etc, as a dried powder product. There is no clear answer that can be given.

Q. I notice savestrols are very much in the news since the discovery of this vegetable extract by Prof Gerry Potter (Professor of Medicinal Chemistry at the De Montfort University in Leicester in England. Has Dr. Sahelian heard of these vegetable extract natural therapeutic discoveries and will he be incorporating them into his range of herbal products ?
   A. I have not heard of salvestrol or salvestrols. A search in Medline in March 2008 did not reveal any studies with salvestrol.