Plant Answers

Vegetables That Can Prevent Cancer

Cold-hardy vegetables such as broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, greens, parsley and carrots can be planted in late summer for an early harvest. Subsequent plantings of these cold?hardy crops at a later time should supply fresh vegetables well into the winter.

If you are not excited by thoughts of harvesting all of those luscious vegetables from a fall garden, maybe I can convince you to garden for your health.

For years, you and I have read and heard about various foods and other substances that allegedly promote cancer. I had begun to think that perhaps virtually everything could be shown to induce this dread disease. The good news is that vegetables may prevent cancer!

More than 2,000 years ago, Hippocrates said, "Thy food shall be thy remedy". Now, medical science is delving more deeply into the relationship of nutrition to health.

Some studies suggest that eating various vegetables can help the body defend itself against cancer. Vegetables listed as defenders against this affliction include carrots, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, spinach, pumpkins, lettuce, chives, leeks, asparagus, parsley, and peppers, as well as vegetables in the cabbage or crucifer group, including turnips, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, and parsnips. Milk, sunflower seeds, wheat bran and wheat germ, whole grains, liver, and fish are also listed as defender foods.

Studies conducted in the U.S., Japan, and Sweden show that people whose diets contain the least amount of vitamins A and C are more likely to develop cancer in the mouth, throat, lungs, bladder, and colon.

Vegetables in the cabbage group have are especially protective. People who consume cabbage and its vegetable relatives are shown to have a sharply decreased risk of colon cancer, a common disease in the U.S. and other countries.

Vegetable growers can be proud of the fact that their products contribute to the good health of the consumer. An editorial writer for Prevention magazine wrote, "If you were to ask me what group of people have the most power to improve the health of Americans, I would say vegetable growers."

In his book, Food is Your Best Medicine, Dr. Henry Bieler included a chapter entitled "Vegetables As Do?It?Yourself Therapy". This chapter contains the statement "There are no more important ingredients of a properly constituted diet than fruits and vegetables, for they contain vitamins of every class, recognized and unrecognized."

In our nation's diet, vegetables provide more than 90% of the vitamin A, 1/3 of the vitamin B, and about 20% of thiamine and niacin. Broccoli, collards, and other vegetables of the cabbage family supply large quantities of vitamin C, as do such leafy vegetables as spinach and turnip greens.

Dark green, leafy vegetables, such as kale and turnip greens, supply the carotene that the human body converts to vitamin A. Carrots, sweet potatoes, and other orange?colored vegetables are additional sources of vitamin A.

A number of mineral elements in the diet also are essential to the life and health of humans, and vegetables are a prime source of minerals. Vegetables supply potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, phosphorus, manganese, zinc and iodine, as well as other minerals.

Animal meats tend to have a high content of sodium, but a low amount of potassium. Heart attacks, strokes, and other blood pressure diseases can result when the human body has an excessive amount of sodium in relation to potassium. Eating vegetables helps to maintain the correct balance of potassium and sodium.

Vegetables also provide protein, a fact that is too often overlooked. The percentage of protein in vegetable legumes is as high as that in meat. Even non?legumes such as sweet corn, Brussels sprouts, collards and kale contain more protein than found in milk.

If diet is so important to human health, why do so many physicians fail to instruct their patients on the preventive benefits of good nutrition? Speaking to the Conference on Cancer and Nutrition, Dr. E.L. Wynder, president of the American Health Foundation said, "As a doctor, it gives you more immediate satisfaction to cure one patient than to prevent illness in 10,000 people."

I am a doctor, and I have explained to you how healthful vegetables can be. The decision is yours. Are you going to die in the air-conditioned house or be healthy and happy sweating in a vegetable garden? The choice is yours!

Keep these late-breaking facts in mind when considering the final word on nutrition and health:

1. The Japanese eat very little fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans.

2. The Mexicans eat a lot of fat and also suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans.

3. The Japanese drink very little red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans.

4. The Italians drink excessive amounts of red wine and also suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans.

5. The Germans drink a lot of beer and eat lots of sausages and fats and suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans.

CONCLUSION: Eat and drink what you like.
Speaking English is apparently what kills you!