Joel Fuhrman - Eat To Live

Eat to Live 57

pariment of Nutrition at Harvard's School of Public Health and a

speaker at the American Association for Cancer Research.^12

In other words, a diet in which fruits, vegetables, and other nat-

ural plant foods supply the vast majority of calories affords us pow-

erful protection against disease. Phytochemicals in their natural state

are potent cancer inhibitors. For example, a recent study published

in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute reported that men who

ate three or more servings of cruciferous vegetables a week had a 41

percent reduced risk of prostate cancer compared with men who ate

less than one serving a week." Cruciferous vegetables, such as broc-

coli and cabbage, are high in isothiocyanates, which activate en-

zymes present in all cells that detoxify carcinogens. Eating a variety

of other vegetation lowered risk even further. Green vegetables,

onions, and leeks also contain organosulfur phytonutrients that in-

hibit abnormal cellular changes that eventually lead to cancer. A

wide variety of wholesome plant-based foods is the only real anti-

cancer strategy.

SOME ANTI-CANCEROUS SUBSTANCES

IN NATURAL PLANT FOOD

Allium compounds

Allyl sulfides

Anthocyanins

Caffeic acid

Catechins

Coumarins

Dithiolthiones

Ellagic acid

Ferulic acid

Flavonoids

Glucosinolates

Indoles

Isoflavones

Isothiocyanates

Lignans

Liminoids

Pectins

Perillyl alcohol

Phenolic acids

Phytoesterols

Polyacetylenes

Polyphenols

Protease inhibitors

Saponins

Sulphorophane

Sterols

Terpenes

The list above is only a small sample of beneficial compounds, and

more are being discovered daily. Cancer-prevention studies attempting

to dissect the precise ingredients or combination of ingredients in fruits

and vegetables are ongoing; but these studies, like the many others be-

fore them, are likely to be a huge waste of resources. There are simply

too many protective factors that work synergistically to expect signifi-

cant benefit from taking a few isolated substances. These beneficial

compounds have overlapping and complementary mechanisms of ac-

tion. They inhibit cellular aging, induce detoxification enzymes, bind

carcinogens in the digestive tract, and fuel cellular repair mechanisms.^14