On Sun, 6 Sep 1998, Staffan Lindeberg wrote:

> I am well aware of the large amount of evidence in favor of the hypothesis
> regarding phytochemicals. Still it is a hypothesis. And an interesting one.
> But I advice any of you not take it for granted that they are the reason
> that fruit and vegetables are healthy. I say this because many people are
> too eager to make pills out of nutrients.

Ah, this is an important point.  I believe that the
reductionistic tendency to isolate a "beneficial" substance in a
food, fractionate/refine it and then market it not only can
diminish or nullify its benefits, but in some cases may reverse
them.  A case in point may be fish oils.  The clinical record for
fish oil supplementation is rather ambiguous, as I understand it,
and not nearly as promising as the clinical record for eating
*fish*.  Peanut oil raises cholesterol, but peanuts appear to
lower it.

I would hazard a guess that the phytochemicals will be found to
work in concert much better than in isolation.  Another example
is the psychotropic kava kava.  The "kavalactones" have been
identified as the active ingredient but, isolated, then don't
work as well as the natural stuff.  There are evidently other yet
to be identified synergists in there.

Todd Moody
[log in to unmask]