Bioactive Foods in Promoting Health. Fruits and Vegetables

Key Features

•Identify bioactive fruit and vegetable options for prevention or treatment of illness
•Moves from general overview to disease specific applications providing a framework for further research and deeper understanding
•Includes discussion of issues and challenges, permitting critical analysis and evaluation

Description

While everyone knows fruits and vegetables are beneficial to good health, it's increasingly seen as important to know which ones can be effective in treating specific illnesses. For example, which are good for cardiac care? Which can help combat and treat asthma? What are the safety concerns to be aware of when using herbs in combination with traditional medicines?

Diet and nutrition are vital keys to controlling or promoting morbidity and mortality from chronic diseases, and the multitude of biomolecules in dietary fruits and vegetables play a crucial role in health maintenance. They may, therefore, be more effective and certainly could have different actions beyond nutrients however this science is still evolving.

This book brings together experts working on the different aspects of supplementation, foods, and plant extracts, in health promotion and disease prevention. Their expertise and experience provide the most current knowledge to promote future research. Dietary habits need to be altered, for most people and the conclusions and recommendations from the various chapters in this book will provide a basis for that change.

The overall goal of this book is to provide the most current, concise, scientific appraisal of the efficacy of key foods and constituents medicines in dietary plants in preventing disease and improving the quality of life. While vegetables have traditionally been seen to be good sources of vitamins, the roles of other constituents have only recently become more widely recognized. This book reviews and often presents new hypotheses and conclusions on the effects of different bioactive components of the diet, derived particularly from vegetables, to prevent disease and improve the health of various populations.

Readership

Health scientists including nutritionists and dieticians will use this book to identify currently known beneficial uses of fruit and vegetables in order to address the needs of their clients, as well as to explore alternative and additional options. Public health workers will better understand the challenges and issues of promoting the inclusion of fruit and vegetables in a healthy lifestyle -- and develop strategies for overcoming those concerns. Food chemists will use the information in identifying the beneficial components in healthful selections and combinations of fruits and vegetables, and will use that knowledge to create new healthful combinations and foods. CLinicians can apply the information to their work in psychology, psychiatry, cancer, and aging.

Contents

Part I: Fruit and Vegetables in Health Promotion; The role of fruits and vegetables in health;Community intervention to increase consumption of fruits and vegetables; Barriers to fruit and vegetable-based diets; Methods to increase fruit and vegetable consumption; School-based fruit and vegetable intervention; Increasing fruit and vegetable use at home; Sour taste and fruit consumption; Dried fruit and vegetables role in health; Part II: Effect of Fruit and Vegetables on Specific Health Concerns; Fruit and vegetable consumption and cardiac health; Fruits and brain function; Vegetables in the prevention of obesity and related disease; Fruit and vegetable intakes and asthma; Fruit and vegetables: bone minerals; Consequence of low fruit and vegetable use; Part III: Health impacts of Individual Vegetables; Anthocyans from fruits and vegetables: Role in disease prevention; Soy isoflavones and health promotion; Soy and aging prevention; Legumes ad prevention of heart disease; Garlic and diabetes; Broccoli and health; Tomatoes in the prevention and treatment of cancer; Vegetables and occular health in seniors; Vegetable oils: Health or disease?; Spinach Vitamin A and health; Isothiocyanates in vegetables as cancer chemopreventative agents; Artichoke effect on GI and irritable bowel syndrom diseases; Part IV: Actions of Individuals or Groups of Fruit on Health; Pomegranate in the prevention and treatment of cancer; Berries and anti-cancer effects; Strawberries and berries in health promotion; Apples and health; Kiwifruit; Plum; Safety of herbs in combination with traditional drugs; Vitamine C changes due to fruit and vegetable intakes;

Author Information

By Ronald Watson, University of Arizona, Tucson, USA and Victor R. Preedy, King's College, University of London, UK