Encouraging Health

Would you be willing to eat just a few extra string beans to reduce your risk of cancer? Heck, yeah!

And that could be all you have to do. A recent study revealed that eating just one extra serving of veggies a day could cut your risk of head and neck cancers.

More Is Better
Although one extra serving of veggies (or fruit) a day will help protect you, more is definitely better. In fact, the more fruit and veggies people ate in a recent study, the lower their risk of head and neck cancers. And it’s no surprise, really, when you think of all the cancer-squelching nutrients packed into produce — like flavonoids, carotenoids, plant sterols, phenols, and vitamin C, to name a few.

The Perfect Product Picks for Protection
Not all the fruits and veggies in the study had a major impact on head and neck cancer risk. The most significant protection was linked to these 9 overachievers: beans, peas, apples, peaches, strawberries, nectarines, peppers, tomatoes, and carrots. How’s that for lots of options?

Here’s a list of 10 veggies that are tops when it comes to phytochemical content.

Make sure the vegetables you eat the most are the most nutritious veggies you can eat.

If you’re a broccoli lover, you’ve picked a winner. From a list of 10 of the most commonly consumed vegetables in the country, broccoli holds the top spot for having the most phytochemicals — compounds everyone’s urged to consume because they protect against chronic diseases. At the bottom of the list? Cucumbers, described by some people as “water you can eat.”

The 9 runners-up to broccoli were spinach, yellow onions, red peppers, carrots, cabbage, potatoes, lettuce, celery, and cucumbers. Red peppers actually beat out broccoli in terms of having the highest levels of antioxidants. The same researchers also have rated 10 of the most popular fruits. Cranberries — with the most phytochemicals and the most antioxidants — topped that list, followed by apples, red grapes, strawberries, peaches, lemons, pears, bananas, oranges, grapefruit, and pineapple.

Food scientists aren’t ranking veggies just to satisfy their curiosity, by the way. They’re contemplating a bioactivity index (BI) for dietary cancer prevention to help grocery shoppers quickly spot the fruits and veggies that have the biggest health benefits.

For more health ides, browse Encouraging Health.