Health Benefits Of Vegetables

Health Benefits Of Vegetables

Many studies show that a diet of whole grains, fruit, vegetables, and fish prevents common chronic diseases. One review study identified these preventable diseases as including coronary artery disease, hypertension, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and cancer.

A diet based on fruit and vegetables can even reverse common chronic diseases in the studies discussed in the review. In a more recent study, a three-month change in diet, with other lifestyle changes, for men with early prostate cancer, controlled the expression of some 500 genes related to cancer: cancer-promoting genes turned off, cancer-fighting genes turned on. Other studies have measured improvement in heart disease and diabetes.

Eating fruit and vegetables improves enzyme and antioxidant activity in the body. A major study on this is known as the 6-a-day Study from the campaign by the Danish government to promote six servings of fruit and vegetables per day. The study showed that eating fruit and vegetables is superior to taking the isolated vitamins and minerals contained in the same amount of fruit and vegetables.

Vegetables help detoxify the body. Paul Pitchford writes in Healing With Whole Foods that the "toxin neutralizers" of Chinese medicine include Swiss chard, radishes, and turnips (all cruciferous vegetables) and the following legumes: tofu, mung beans, aduki beans, black soybeans. Many studies have been done about Brassica vegetables and their ability to increase and improve the detoxification of carcinogens and other toxins.

Vegetables can be medicinal. Just a few examples: Some vegetables, like garlic and onion, are antibiotic, antiviral, and antifungal. Cabbage juice is used to heal stomach ulcers. Onions have an antihistamine property that can suppress allergic reactions. Many books are available about the healing uses of vegetables.

Why Vegetables?

Vegetables can be enjoyed both for their own sake and as a component of a healthy lifestyle. Can healthy vegetables as part of a lifestyle change add up to disease remission? Yes!

But studies show that benefits of vegetables also result from just a few small servings a day. Go ahead and take advantage of all that healthy vegetables can offer you!