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Diversity of Fruits & Vegetables
2 Dec 2020
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Should we strive to eat a large number of unique fruits & veggies? Does diversity help? Yes! Here are some fascinating Dr Greger videos in plain English that explain why dietary diversity matters.
(2012) Apples & Oranges: Dietary Diversity

(2 mins) Transcript. Dr Greger's summary: "In addition to quantity and quality, the variety of fruits and vegetables consumed matters, as many phytonutrients are not evenly distributed among the various families and parts of plants."

(1) Why diversify? Dr Greger explains: "There are tens of thousands of phytonutrients, but they’re not evenly distributed throughout the plant kingdom. Those wonderful glucosinolates I’ve talked about are found almost exclusively in the cabbage family. You don’t get lemonoids like lemonin and limonol or tangeretin in apples, for example. Comparing apples and oranges is like, comparing apples and oranges."

(2) Should we diligently diversify across fruits, or veggies? Which one is more important? Dr Greger explains: "In a sense, though, all fruits are just fruits, whereas vegetables can be any other part of the plant. Roots harbor different nutrients than shoots. Carrots are roots; celery and rhubarb are stems; dark green leafies are leaves; peas are pods; and cauliflower is true to its name—a collection of flower buds. But all fruits are just fruits, so it may be even more important to get in a variety of vegetables so you can benefit from all parts of the plant—and that’s indeed what they found."

(2012) Garden Variety Anti-Inflammation

(2 mins) Transcript. Dr Greger's summary: "The variety of fruit and vegetable consumption may decrease disease risk, independent of quantity."

Why diversify? At offset 1:32, Dr Greger explains,

Not only may the variety of fruit and vegetable consumption decrease disease risk, independent from quantity of consumption; sometimes variety may even be more important. Check this out. No difference in inflammation — C-reactive protein levels — between those eating six servings of vegetables a day, and those eating two servings. But those eating the more variety — even if they didn't necessarily eat greater overall quantities — had significantly less inflammation.

(2016) Specific Receptors for Specific Fruits & Vegetables

(4 mins) Transcript. Dr Greger's summary: "Dietary diversity is important because each plant family has a unique combination of phytonutrients that may bind to specific proteins within our body."

Companion article: We Have Specific Fruit and Vegetable Receptors (2018).

This is a fascinating video worth watching in its entirety. Dr Greger offers multiple insights into why dietary diversity, especially fruits & veggies, matters. This video has curious insights like these:

"Cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, and Brussels sprouts are associated with lower risk of colon cancer in the middle and right side of our body, whereas risk of colon cancer further down on the left side of our body appears to be lowered by carrots, pumpkins, and apples. So, different fruits and vegetables may confer different risks for cancer of different parts of even the same organ."

(2021) Best Supplements for Prostate Cancer

(8 mins) Transcript. A remarkable video! Must watch. Dr Greger explains a study in which small amounts of turmeric, pomegranate, broccoli and green tea were given to patients. Excerpts:

If you have two groups of people eating approximately the same amount of fruits and vegetables, but one group ate a relatively low biological diversity diet, where they ate tons of really healthy foods, but just less variety than smaller servings of a high-diversity diet, which group would win in terms of protecting their DNA from free radical damage? The high-diversity group. This suggests that “smaller amounts of many phytochemicals may have a greater potential to exert beneficial effects than larger amounts of fewer phytochemicals.”

Same result for inflammation. Greater variety in fruit and vegetable intake is associated with lower inflammation, even if you eat the same number of servings. Same with improving cognitive function. “[G]reater variety in fruit and vegetable intake was associated with a better [mental status], executive function, attention, [and] memory function [in some cases]—even after adjustment for total quantity.”

So, if you have two people eating the same number of servings of healthy foods, the one eating a greater variety may do better.

(2011) Constructing a Cognitive Portfolio

(3 mins) Transcript. An excerpt from the video:

And perhaps the most interesting finding: different foods seemed to boost different areas of the brain. For example, total vegetable consumption had the strongest positive associations with executive function, perceptual speed, global cognition, and semantic, or fact-based memory, whereas total fruit intake was more consistently associated with visuospatial skills and autobiographical memory.

So, yes, while carrots and cruciferous cabbage-family vegetables seemed to win out above the rest, we have to eat a variety of whole healthy plant foods, because they each tend to shore up different cognitive domains.

American Gut Project: 30 Plants

Motivation to consume a variety of fruits & veggies may also be derived from the American Gut Project. They have discovered that consumers of 30 or more unique plant types per week had the healthiest guts. See Big data from world's largest citizen science microbiome project serves food for thought at Science Daily, 2018. Note that the guideline is to eat 30 or more plants (any plants, not specifically fruits and veggies).

Eat Your Colors!

A common guideline by health organizations is 'Eat More Colors!' And Dr Greger's videos explain that we must derive all these colors from different parts of plants like fruits (like mangoes and apples), stems (like celery and rhubarb), root vegetables (like potatoes and carrots) , leaves ('leafy greens' like kale and collards), pods (like green peas) and flowers (like cauliflower).

AHA: Eat More Color!

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Source: Eat More Color Infographic at AHA (American Heart Association).

In the center, the infographic says:

EAT MORE COLOR: The best way to get all the vitamins, minerals and nutrients you need is to eat a variety of colorful fruits and veggies. Add color to your plate each day with the five main color groups.

FSSAI: Eat More Color!

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Source: Eat More Colors! by FSSAI (Food Safety & Standards Authority of India).

PCRM: Eat The Rainbow!

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Source: PCRM: Eat The Rainbow!

PCRM: Eat The Rainbow!

(Click image to enlarge)

Source: PCRM: Eat The Rainbow!

European Code Against Cancer

In the article Is a variety of plant foods important, and what does 'a variety' mean?, European Code Against Cancer (ECAC) explains:

"Yes. Having a variety of different plant foods is an important part of healthy eating. There are different types of plant foods – vegetables and fruits; pulses, like beans or lentils or peas; and cereals and cereal products, like rice, pasta, or bread. Having “a variety” means that over a period of time – say, a week or a month – you would have some of each of them. It also means having a variety of types within each category. So for vegetables, you might aim to have green leafy vegetables like cabbage, or root vegetables like carrots, or soft fleshy vegetables like courgettes (zucchini) or aubergine (eggplant), or salad vegetables like tomatoes. One way to think of this is to try to have lots of different coloured vegetables. It is equally good to have different types of pulses and cereals (preferably whole grain). Try to take advantage of the different varieties of foods at different times of the year."

How To Eat So Many Colors & Veggies In One Meal?

Prepare a rainbow-colored salad! :) Dr Fuhrman explains that we should consume a large bowl of daily G-BOMBS salad! What's G-BOMBS? It's an acronym for Greens, Beans, Onions, Mushrooms, Berries and Seeds. We should extend this acronym to 'Rainbow G-BOMBS' to remind ourselves that the salad should have an impressive array of colors as well with the inclusion of multi-colored veggies.

(15 mins) Each Day Eat A Salad, Nuts, Beans, Greens, Mushrooms, Onions, Vegetables And Berries — Dr Fuhrman
Dr Peter Rogers

In a FaceBook message exchange, Dr Peter Rogers mentioned:

"That's debatable [dietary diversity is debatable]. Blue Zone centenarians don't try to eat as many varieties as they can. McDougall says that you don't need much variety. A couple of good foods is enough. You can put people into a metabolic ward and only feed them potatos, and they will do very well. Potatos are a complete food, having vitamin C, etc. Other proponents of eat as much variety of plants as you can, include gastroenterologist Bulsieviec & microbiologist Knight. Whenever, I have researched out the details of a topic, in my experience, Mcdougall ends up being right. I think Mcdougall is right on this one as well. If a person wants a variet of fruits and vegetables, that's okay. But the variety might be expensive, and some even say that it can lead to overeating. Either way, I think it's a minor point, but I just want people who don't eat that much variety, to rest assured, they are in good company."

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