Re: The Case For Real Food (2x)

[Guest guest]

Thanks, Jeff,

Also true is the fact that not ALL red is lycopene.

A variety of F & V provides a variety of pigments.

Is there a site listing the chem name for all pigments?

Regards

[ ] The Case For Real Food (2x)

1) November 5, 2007, 9:31 amThe Case for Real FoodMore than just vitamins? (Tony Cenicola/The New YorkTimes)Is there more to a carrot than beta carotene? Islycopene the best we get from tomatoes? And when weheap our plates with salmon, are we serving upsomething other than omega-3s?For years the scientific community has viewedindividual vitamins and nutrients as the best thatfood has to offer. Nutrition studies have isolatedbeta carotene, calcium, vitamin E and lycopene, amongother nutrients, in order to study their healthbenefits in the body.But now, after several vitamin studies have produceddisappointing results, there’s a growing belief thatfood is more than just a sum of its nutrient parts. Ina recent commentary for the journal Nutrition Reviews,University of Minnesota professor of epidemiology R. s argues that nutrition researchersshould focus on whole foods rather than only on singlenutrients. “We argue for a need to return to food asthe source of nutrition knowledge,'’ writes Dr. swith co-author C. Tapsell, a nutritionresearcher at the University of Wollongong inAustralia.Dr. s believes that nutrition science needs toconsider the effects of “food synergy,'’ the notionthat the health benefits of certain foods aren’tlikely to come from a single nutrient but rathercombinations of compounds that work better togetherthan apart. “Every food is much more complicated thanany drug,’’ said Dr. s. “It makes sense to wantto break it down. But you get a lot of people talkingin the popular press about carbohydrates and fats inparticular as if they were unified entities. They’renot. They’re extremely complicated.’’The narrow focus on the health effects of singlenutrients stems from the earliest days of nutritionresearch. In 1937, two scientists won a Nobel Prizefor identifying vitamin C as the essential componentin citrus fruit that prevents scurvy. The findingspurred interest by the scientific community to studyother biologically active nutrients in foods.For as long as observational studies have shown thatdiets rich in fruits and vegetables, unsaturated fatand fish, among other things, are associated withbetter health, nutrition researchers have been busilydeconstructing these foods to identify the most potentnutrients. For example, vitamin E has been widelystudied as a heart protector.But attributing the broad health benefits of a diet toa single compound has proven to be misguided. Severalstudies have suggested an association between dietsrich in beta carotene and vitamin A, for instance, andlower risk for many types of cancer. But in awell-known 1994 Finnish study, smokers who took betacarotene were found to have an 18 percent higherincidence of lung cancer. In 1996, researchers gavebeta carotene and vitamin A to smokers and workersexposed to asbestos. But the trial had to be stoppedbecause the people taking the combined therapy showedmarkedly higher risks for lung cancer and heartattacks.Since then, studies of other vitamins, notablyvitamins E and B, have also failed to show a benefit.Manufacturers say the problem is that vitamins are toooften examined in sick people while the real benefitmay be in preventing disease. But Dr. s notesthat the better explanation may simply be that foodsynergy, rather than the biological activity of a fewkey nutrients, is the real reason that certain diets,like those consumed in the parts of the Mediterraneanand Japan, appear to lower the risks of heart diseaseand other health problems.“People ask me what vitamins they should take,’’ saidDr. s. “I say ‘Don’t take any. Just make sure youhave a nutrient-rich diet.’ ’’2) And if you missed this one..Unhappy MealsIllustration by Leo JungBy MICHAEL POLLANPublished: January 28, 2007Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/28/magazine/28nutritionism.t.html?_r=1 & oref=slogin

[Guest guest]

Isn’t it nice to know that we’ve been saying this here just about since this site was established? LOL. And just about anytime anyone has asked about supplements?

From: Jeff Novick <chefjeff40@...>

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Date: Tue, 6 Nov 2007 03:52:44 -0800 (PST)

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Subject: [ ] The Case For Real Food (2x)

1) November 5, 2007, 9:31 am

The Case for Real Food

More than just vitamins? (Tony Cenicola/The New York

Times)