HOW A DIET RICH IN FRUIT AND VEGETABLES CAN PREVENT HEART DISEASE

Very simply - their anti-oxidant content.

The common denominator in the process of ageing and its associated disease is called oxidative damage. This has put the spotlight on the use of anti-oxidants - nutrients that help protect the body from this damage by preventing and treating disease - including heart disease. So far, over a hundred anti-oxidant nutrients have been discovered and hundreds, if not thousands of research papers have extolled their benefits. The main players are vitamins A, C, E, plus beta-carotene, the precursor to vitamin A. Where are these to be found? - in fruit and vegetables. Their presence in your diet and levels in your blood may prove to be the best marker yet of your power to delay death and prevent heart and other chronic disease.

Oxygen, although our most important nutrient is also chemically reactive and can become unstable and capable of 'oxidising' neighbouring molecules. This can lead to cellular damage which, in turn, triggers arterial disease, cancer, inflammation and ageing. Known as free oxidising radicals, this body equivalent of nuclear waste must be disarmed to remove the danger. Free radicals are made in all combustion processes including smoking, the burning of petrol to create exhaust fumes, radiation, frying or barbecuing food, and in normal body processes. Chemicals capable of disarming free radicals are called anti-oxidants - and we need lots. Nutrients such as vitamins A,C,E, the minerals zinc and selenium plus bioflavonoids, anthrocyadins and pycnogenol are just a few of the many recently identified protectors, found in common foods. The balance between your intake of anti-oxidants and exposure to free radicals may literally be the balance between life and death. You can tip the scales in your favour by simple changes to ensure your diet is high in these protective anti-oxidants, and by supplements where necessary. The simple way of effecting this is to use organic fruit and vegetables - with emphasis on the highly coloured ones - at a ratio of eight serves a day of vegetables and two or three of fruit, and the use of sprouted seeds, beans and grains.

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