Fruits and Vegetables
Are Loaded With Antioxidants

Fruits and vegetables are dense in nutrients and a vital heart healthy food source. We get many more nutrients than calories from them. You should eat seven to nine servings of fruit and vegetables daily. They contain many phytonutrients and are loaded with natural antioxidants. These include carotenes (vitamin A or betacarotene), tocopherols (vitamin E compounds), ascorbate (vitamin C), and polyphenols (molecules that are very effective at neutralizing free radicals).

There is considerable research that supports the anticancer properties of plant foods. Much of this research also applies to cardiovascular medicine. These antioxidants that fight cancer also stimulate the antioxidant enzyme glutathione S-transferase (GST), which preserves nitric oxide, in turn fighting cardiovascular disease.

More recently, nutrition scientists have discovered many health benefits from the nonnutritive substances in plants. These are known as phytonutrients or phytochemicals. Fruits and vegetables contain over 4,000 phytochemicals that have shown benefits for the cardiovascular system. Those that help your endothelium are typically antioxidants. Flavonoids and carotenoids are among these and they help protect your blood vessels from free radicals.

Fruits and vegetables are loaded with about 4,000 types of polyphenols. If you eat foods that are high in polyphenols, you will be less likely to have a heart attack or stroke. Our bodies have a network of natural antioxidants that include enzymes, small molecules, and vitamins. Polyphenols are essential for the balance and functioning of this network. Some of the foods that are high in polyphenols are apples, blackberries, blueberries, cherries, citrus fruits, dark chocolate, both red and white grapes, lettuce, onions, persimmons, plums, potatoes, raspberries, red peppers, soy, strawberries, tomatoes, and wheat bran. Apples, blueberries, and cherries contain the highest amounts of polyphenols. Many of these polyphenols are found in the outer layers of these foods, which is why many of them are lost in processed foods.

Research has shown that free radicals increase after eating a high-fat meal containing animal protein, while they decrease after a meal of heart healthy foods that are plant-based. One glass of red wine, which contains the polyphenols quercetin and resveratrol, is equivalent to taking 500 milligrams of vitamin C. In fact, drinking a glass of red wine while eating a fatty meal can diminish the adverse effect of the meal on your endothelium.

Flavonoids (a type of polyphenol), along with carotenoids, are the most common type of plant antioxidants. Many of the flavonoids from plants (including fruits, vegetables, nuts, and whole grains) are antioxidants that protect LDL (bad) cholesterol from oxidation, stop platelets from clumping, and have anti-inflammatory properties. Broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables are particularly high in flavonoids, along with green tea and grapes. Resveratrol and quercetin and found in the skin of grapes, and the skin, not the pulp, is where most of the antioxidants are found.

Another powerful source of antioxidants come from plant pigments. The carotenoids (including beta-carotene) give carrots and cantaloupe their orange color, and the red color of tomatoes comes from lycopene, which evidence shows it to be at least as potent of an antioxidant as vitamin E, and is best absorbed when the tomato is cooked.

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