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Phytochemcials and your health: A brief look
Post By lpcw
Site Admin
Posted: 01 Feb 2007 12:45 am
Post subject: Phytochemcials and your health: A brief look
Q: What are Phytochemcials?
A: Phytochemicals are antioxidants, and are non-nutrients commonly found in edible plants, vegetables, grains, legumes, nuts, herbs, etc, and have been found to have cancer protective effects and other health benefits, such as the reduction of multiple chronic diseases. In plants, phytochemicals add color and flavor, and offer protection against sun, wind, and from insects.
Q: What are the different types of Phytochemcials
A: Below are some of the different classifications
Indoles. These include cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, turnips
Isoprenoids. These include carotenoids, such as yellow orange, paprika and green vegetables, fruits; Terpenes, such as herbs and spices, citrus fruits, oils; and Saponins, such as nuts, grains, legumes, and oats
Organosulfides. These include gallic and onions
Phenolic compounds: These include flavanoids such as berries, tea, wine, citric fruits, and isoflavones; such as found in nuts, legume, and soy
Capsaicin. These are the different types of peppers: tabasco, jalapeno, bell, Santa Fe Grande, Thai hot, etc
Q: What are some health benefits of Phytochemcials? The health benefits are many, but below are a few.
A: The health benefits of Phytochemcials include but are not limited to the prevention of numerous chronic diseases such as heart disease, inflammatory diseases, such as ulcerative colitis and crohn’s, hypertension, and the inhibition of cancer initiation, progression and promotion. With regards to preventing chronic diseases, phenolic compounds have been shown to decrease atherosclerotic plaques, decrease platelet aggregation and inhibit inflammation in many disease processes. Other health benefits include their ability to kill many bacteria strains such as hemophilus influenza, salmonella spp., staphylococcus aureus, etc. The nuts and legumes in isoflavones offer a source of fiber which can prevent constipation among other benefits. Capsaicin offer protection against pain with low risk for addiction.
Q: What are the daily recommendations for Phytochemcials
A: Currently we do not have RDAs, RDI or toxicity levels for most of the phytochmemicals. But using examples from research, it is recommended that we consume different phytochemcials from each class, with the very minimum of about 5 servings daily from a variety of fruits and vegetables within each class. With dietary intake, chances of toxicity would be rare.
Q: How can phytochemcials prevent cancer?
A: Research continues to build in this area, but below are some general ways
•Reducing the initiation of cancer by inhibiting certain enzymes ( e. g., phase 1 enzymes), which can activate cancer
•Inducing phase 2 enzymes such as glutathione S-Transferase, which can detoxify carcinogens
•Modifying gene expression by either turning on suppressor gene (p53) and turning off amplifying cancer gene
•Modulating immune system activity by improving Natural Killer (NK) immune cell activity
•Inhibiting cell proliferation and inducing apoptosis. Apoptosis is programmed cell death. This is a good thing as the cells that threaten the integrity of our immune system are destroyed.
Writen By: Ruth Tanyi, RN, MSN, APRN-BC, FNP-C; ACSM, HFI
Family Nurse Practitioner, Journalist, , Certified Health Fitness Instructor; Producer & Host, Lifestyle & Preventive Care Weekly TV Show
Doctoral Student in Public Health, Preventive Care Program, Loma Linda University, CA, USA
References and Further Reading
Handbook of Nutraceuticals and Functional Foods (2000), edited by Robert E. C. Wildman.
CRC Press: Boca Raton, London, New York, Washington D.C.
Min, Jeong-KI, et al. (2004). Capsaicin inhibit in vitro and in vivo angiogenesis. Caner Res. 64, 644-651.
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Phytochemcials and your health: A brief look
Jun 13 2007, 06:25 AM
