Phytochemicals: Reduce Your Risk of Disease
Phytochemicals
Food and food rituals are an important part of culture and socialization, but beyond that, food can have the power to promote health and aid in the prevention of several diseases. Some foods can contribute to disease prevention by way of phytochemicals.
Phytochemicals are bioactive compounds found in many plants that we consume as food. A bioactive compound is a component of a plant that is biologically active beyond providing energy, vitamins, or minerals. More than 4,000 types of phytochemicals have been discovered, but only about 150 have been intricately studied.
A major health benefit of some known phytochemicals is their ability to aid in the prevention of some cancers, improve anti-inflammatory processes, and a promote a healthy cardiovascular system.
Phytochemicals in Action
Phytochemicals that may help with a healthy cardiovascular system include capsaicin, curcumin. The phytochemical resveratrol may help to reduce inflammation.
Phytochemicals that may help reduce the risk of certain cancers include carotenoids, tannins, lignans, flavonoids, curcumin, saponins, resveratrol, and phenolic acid. Most of these phytochemicals have antioxidant properties, meaning that they work to minimize the amount of free radicals in the body that can be potentially cancer causing.
What is a free radical? Let’s zoom in to the atomic level. A free radical is a molecule that has one or more unpaired electrons. An unpaired electron can wreak havoc in the the body because they can be chemically unstable.
If the unpaired electron is chemically unstable, it can be highly reactive and attempt to cling to other electrons in the body. Thus, causing damage to major cell components, like lipids, protein, and DNA.
Free radicals occur naturally in the body when exercising or breaking down food. However, there are some food and beverages that are more likely to produce free radicals in the body. These include processed meats, red meat, alcohol, refined sugars. Therefore, it is important to consume foods with antioxidants to counteract free radicals in the body.
Antioxidants can help to clean up free radicals by donating an electron to stabilize the molecule. This can help to reduce the risk of disease.
Food Sources of Phytochemicals
Phytochemicals are found in plant-based, whole foods and beverages such as fruits, vegetables, cereal grains, tea, and wine.
Tannins: tea, red and white wine, lentils, and grapes
Lignans: flaxseed, flaxseed oil, and whole grains
Flavonoids: berries, onions, oregano, grapes, and black tea
Capsaicin: hot peppers
Curcumin: turmeric
Saponins: alfalfa and other sprouts, green vegetables, potatoes, and tomatoes
Phytic acid: whole grains
Phenolic acid: coffee beans, oats, potatoes, apples, grapes, soybeans, blueberries, cherries, oranges, pears, and prunes
Resveratrol: red wine, grapes, peanuts, and raspberries
Carotenoids: apricots, carrots, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, cantaloupe, spinach, tomatoes, and broccoli
Flavonoids
Flavonoids are the largest category of phytochemicals. In fact, there are several types of flavonoids: flavones, flavonols, isoflavones, catechins, hesperidin, proanthocyanidins, quercetin, and rutin.
Should You Take Phytochemical Supplements?
After reading about the potential benefits of phytochemicals, you may find yourself wondering if you should just take a phytochemical supplement . The answer to that, in a word, is no. It is not necessary to take a supplement since all of these phytochemicals are found abundantly in food.
Additionally, studies have been done to determine if phytochemicals isolated from foods have the same impact as those within foods. The overwhelming verdict is that the isolated phytochemicals lack the same strength of benefits than those found in whole foods.
It is thought that this is due to the partnership, if you will, between the other nutrients in whole foods, like vitamins and minerals. So ditch the supplements and keep the focus on adding plant-based whole foods to your diet.
Recommendations
Let’s start with fruits and vegetables. The current dietary guidelines for American’s recommend that adults consume about 1.5-2 cups of fruit and 2-3 cups of vegetables each day. Easy, right? Well, currently, only about 20% of Americans are meeting the recommendation for fruit and only about 10% are meeting the recommendation for vegetables.
This means that many of us have room for improvement. There are many reasons this may be the case, for example, lack of access. If you do have access to fruits and vegetables, start by making sure you have at least 1 fruit or vegetable with each meal and snack. This will help to balance your meals as well as get you those amazing phytochemical benefits.
If you do not have access to fresh fruits and vegetables, reach out to me and I would be happy to help connect you to some great resources to help get your diet in shape.
This is simply a general recommendation. For a more personalized plan, speak with your registered dietitian nutritionist.
Resources
Halliwell, B. (2015). Oxygen: boon yet bane- introducing oxygen toxicity and reactive species. In Free Radicals in Biology and Medicine (5th Edition, pp. 1–29). essay, Oxford University Press.
Hartz, R. (n.d.). Visual Veggies SoftwareVersion (8.3.0.175).
Kasote, D. M., Katyare, S. S., Hegde, M. V., & Bae, H. (2015). Significance of antioxidant potential of plants and its relevance to therapeutic applications. International journal of biological sciences, 11(8), 982–991. https://doi.org/10.7150/ijbs.12096
Thiede, A. A., & Zidenberg-Cheer, S. (2016, June). Nutrition and Health Info Sheet: Phytochemicals. Center for Nutrition in Schools Department of Nutrition University of California, Davis.
USDA. (n.d.). Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025.
