Fruits,Vegetables and their Phytonutrients take the world stage in the fight against chronic disease.

In a huge and powerful effort to draw attention to the dramatic increases in chronic disease world-wide, the World Health Organization (WHO) published its most compelling report ever.

Titled “Preventing Chronic Disease : A Vital Investment” the report points to the alarming reality that the occurrence of chronic disease world-wide is increasing faster that the population. In 2005, 60% of all deaths, about 35 million, was attributed to chronic disease. By 2020 — just over 1 year from now—they expect that number to rise 27% to 41 million!

Chronic disease is preventable!

The WHO considers the top 5 causes of death to all be chronic diseases—all of which are preventable, or at least delay-able. And they’re not the only ones. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and most major health authorities world-wide agree. To fight the ever-increasing risk and presence of chronic disease we need to do three things: stop smoking, get active, and FIX OUR DIETS!!!

Top Five causes of death world-wide are all “chronic diseases”
*Heart disease
*Cancer Stroke
*Chronic respiratory diseases
*Diabetes


The WHO sees nutrition as the foundation of health.

The formula is simple and compelling; Poor nutrition equals poor health and greater disease. Good nutrition equals good health and less disease. It’s simple and it’s irrefutable.

Fruits, vegetables, grains and fish hold the keys to prevention.
Healthy whole foods and the powerful protector nutrients they contain is the arsenal the WHO, the CDC, the USFDA, the American Heart Association, the U.S. National Cancer Institute, and others point to as our best weapons in the fight against chronic disease.

For Heart Disease and Stroke prevention the American Heart Association recommends:
Vegetables and fruits: Eating a variety of fruits and vegetables may help you control your weight and your blood pressure.

Whole-grain foods: contain fiber that can help lower your blood cholesterol and help you feel full, which may help you manage your weight.

• Fish: at least twice a week. Recent research shows that eating oily fish containing omega-3 fatty acids (for example, salmon, trout, and herring) may help lower your risk of death from coronary artery disease.

For Cancer Prevention the U.S. National Cancer Institute says:

• Populations with diets high in fruits and vegetables tend to have a lower cancer risk.
• Fruits, vegetables, and grains contain a number of nutrients, including carotenoids, vitamin-A, and vitamin-C.
• Numerous studies have found evidence that carotenoids reduce the risk of some cancers.


For Diabetes prevention the American Diabetes Association recommends:

• Eat lots of vegetables and fruits. Try picking from the rainbow of colors available to maximize variety. Eat non-starchy vegetables such as spinach, carrots, broccoli or green beans with meals.
• Choose whole-grain foods over processed grain products.
• Include fish in your meals 2-3 times a week.

Nigerian diets lack fruit and vegetable protector nutrients!

Publishing their report card on the American diet in the September 2006 issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association researchers from the USDA and the US National Cancer Institute report too many people are failing to get the fruit and vegetable nutrition needed for optimal health.

They point out that more than 60% of Nigerians fail to reach the 5 servings per day minimum recommendation—let alone the 9 to 13 servings per day optimum intake recommendations!
Some population groups were surprisingly bad. For boys 14-18 only 0.7% reached the 5-a-day minimum target. For women 51-70 the number was 17%.

Other groups faired similarly poorly, prompting researchers to write “A large portion of the US population needs to increase their fruit and vegetable intake if recommendations are to be met.
Barriers to increasing consumption…should be investigated and strategies for appropriate programs and interventions should be developed.

Carotenoid-rich vegetables linked to lower risk of stomach cancer.
In their report published in the October 2006 issue of the journal Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention (Vol. 15, pp. 1998-2001) researchers from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden reported that people who had the highest fruit and vegetable carotenoid consumption in the 7-year study of more than 90,000 participants had a 46% to 57% lower risk of stomach cancer compared to those with the lowest intake.

Lead researcher Susanna Larrson concluded “We are evaluating the association between dietary intake of carotenoids and risk of gastric cancer. These findings add further support to the current dietary recommendations to increase vegetable consumption.” EPIC study shows garlic and onion protect from gastric cancer.

Results from the European study known as EPIC (European Prospective Investigation into Cancer) published in March of 2006 in the International Journal of Cancer (Vol. 118, pp. 25592566) showed that Allium food family members garlic and onion could help protect against stomach cancer.