Title: Eat more veggies. Eat more fruit. Get healthy--really?
Author: Herbert E Dreyer

While it is common to see scientific studies on how health
can be improved by using certain, particular supplements of
vitamins and minerals it is not the same for the real McCoy.

How true? Ask yourself and do a goggle search (or a PUB
Med or any advanced search of scientific articles) about
how many times you see a study--any study--on a particular
fruit or vegetable that comes out proving some health
improvement. Not a group, but a particular fruit or
vegetable. And proof of health, not disease (this is an
important distinction).

We are talking about real science here not just made up
stuff from some science nut or health nut. And we are
talking about real fruits and vegetables like a particular
apple or broccoli as opposed to a group of fruits or
vegetables. In other words we are talking about something
very concrete and not at all abstract--this is where real
scientific study comes in very handy: such study is not
abstract or it is not science. And, importantly, if I can
prove it and you cannot, it is not scientifically provable.
Period.

How many? Which vegetable? Which fruit?

There are plenty of promoters of eating fresh fruits and
vegetables and many of them provide solid credentials like
the Harvard, Tufts, Eat 5 a day, and so on (for a really
good goggle search try vegetables and health or fruits and
health).

For example, the Harvard site cites the latest dietary
guidelines that, "call for five to thirteen servings of
fruits and vegetables a day, depending on one's caloric
intake. For a person who needs 2,000 calories a day to
maintain weight and health, this translates into nine
servings, or 4½ cups per day." The citation for this is
The USDA, the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It is a
helpful abstraction but not a particular guide to
particular fruits and vegetables and how they can promote
your health.

But most of what these prestigious institutions promote is
air--no scientific studies demonstrating the health effects
of a single fruit or vegetable could be found on the
Harvard site, not one. True, it's nice air, but air
nevertheless.

Now we are not talking about the genuine research on fruits
and vegetables like this one listed in Pub Med, "Electron
beam and gamma irradiation effectively reduce Listeria
monocytogenes populations on chopped romaine lettuce", (J
Food Prot. 2006 Mar;69(3):570-4, for those who need to
know) . This kind of research is not after the health
promoting effects of eating, in this case, romaine lettuce.
And it does not pretend to be anything other than what it
is.

Of course sites promoting the health benefits of eating of
fruits and vegetables could be hiding the scientific
studies and don't want to bother their visitors with all
those numbers and scientific names for turnips or plums.
Or farmers who grow the really good stuff and how to buy
them.

I remember a study concerning folate and green leafy
vegetables and some kids on an island in the South Pacific.
The study, a genuine scientific study, had to be halted
because the scientists found that the children in the study
could not get enough folate for their diets from the fresh
vegetables because the vegetables themselves were
deficient. So the study stopped because, ethically,
depriving the children's diet of this essential ingredient
could hurt them--especially when the science proved the
children would be deficient on a natural diet. So much for
the health promoting benefits of this entire group of
vegetables--and I have not seen another study to refute
this single isolated, particular controlled scientific
study on green leafy vegetable and exactly how they promote
health in humans.

So how do you know if the fruits or vegetables you eat can
really promote better health? Simple answer is you don't.
But then again, if you stopped eating fruits and vegetables
what would happen? Could be all those diseases they write
about in Pub Med and cited by the Tufts nutritionists and
become the cover story about our fat nation for Time
Magazine: eat your fruits and veggies and stay healthy or
until we know, for sure, something different.


About the Author:

Herb Dreyer is the critically acclaimed artisan chef at
Good Friends & Company, http://www.goodfriendsco.com ,
makers of fine American foods.