March 15, 2007 

If we eat enough fruit and vegetables surely we are getting enough antioxidants and other phytonutrients?

At the moment conventional nutritional advice would answer yes to this statement. However I tend to differ from mainstream thought on this matter for several reasons.

Firstly humankind's primordial diet consisted to a large extent of very strong tasting 'spicy' foods and it is the compounds in these foods that give them their intense flavors that have the most important protective properties.

Before mankind began breeding plants in order to obtain the most desirable flavors and yield, most fruit and vegetable species were far stronger tasting than they are today.

The past century, especially, has seen the most rapid development of new varieties of plant foods. I can remember that, even 30 years ago, peaches, apples, strawberries, tomatoes and other foods were generally far more aromatic than they are nowadays. The reason for the loss of flavor is that plant breeders have focussed on increasing the size and sugar content of almost all plant foods. The result of this selective breeding process has been a reduction in the quantity of plant compounds that gives each food species its unique flavor - and it is often the compounds in plants that give them their distinctive aromas and tastes that also provide us with protection against diseases.

Spices, on the other hand, have not been subject to this process to any extent. If anything they have probably been bred to enhance the particular flavor that they bring to a recipe. A good example of this is the capsicum family where varieties of chilie are being bred to increase their 'hotness'. And the degree of hotness of a chilie depends on the concentration of the compound, capsaicin in each plant.

Capsaicin is also the compound that has been credited with having anti-cancer activity. It has also been shown to help contain obesity by suppressing the appetite and increasing the body's metabolic rate.

Although it is crucial to eat lots of fruit and vegetables (as they still contain significant quantities of most vitamins, minerals and other phytonutrients) it is just as important to eat significant amounts of culinary herbs and spices as they are the most concentrated source of  antioxidants and other disease fighting compounds.

One of the best ways to ensure that you get the optimum benefit from the best spices is to take a spice supplement .