>From the 10th anniverary issue of HEALTH magazine, April '97:
"Eat to Fight Cancer" by Stephen Hall
( I send this juxtaposed to the posts I made about estrogenic compounds in
our foods: this is the flip side of those dangers):
This article points out the growing body of info about the phytochemicals
(non-estrogenic) in fruits and vegetables. It points out that there is
almost no data on how these chemicals work in the body, other than
epidemiological. It all seemed to begin with the work of Lee Watenburg at U.
of Minn., in the 1960's, who began by studying enzymes in rats and learned
by chance (yet another serendipity in the medical field) that the rat feed,
which contained alfalfa meal, induced enzyme production (to me this sounded
like a good reason for how phytochemicals work to protect!)and warded off
cancer. By 1978 he showed that it was the indole (also in crucifers) which
was the active agent.
One by one this research led to other protective agent: isothiocyanates,
polyphenols, flavenoids, organosulfides. Why can't there be a pill? Because
there is no way yet to determine what other compounds in the food are there,
assisting.
And this is the very important point I most want you to understand: "The
chemical potentcy of broccoli and of all the vegetables they tested varied
enormously, influenced in unpredicitable ways by the strain of plant,
whither it was planted early or late in the season, what part of the plant
ws measured, and whether the sam,ple was freshly picked or not. Scientist
tossed them in a blender, without considering how (or not) they were cooked,
dried it into powder ( pat:and then the hype from all the sellers of life
everlasting got into the act).
Every vegetable, every fruit, has literally hundreds of constituents, and
ignoring that complexity by making a pill may actually hurt you (beta
caroteen and its' adverse effect on smokers0>
The article ends with an appeal to return to the victory gardens of WWII.
Heard that before? Fresh--controlled--no manmade chemicals. Nurtured earth,
old cultivars instead of plants bred for convenient shipping. And fresh,
fresh, fresh.
Pat
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