Combining fruits and vegetables gives them more nutritional punch.

Many of the beneficial compounds in fruits and vegetables provide them with their beautiful colors, none more than the carotenoids, nature's most widespread pigments. They include lycopene (which provides the red color to tomatoes, pink grapefruit and watermelon), beta carotene (the orange in carrots, pumpkin, papaya and cantaloupe) and yellow-green lutein (found in spinach, corn and avocado).

It is becoming increasingly clear that whole fruits and vegetables, with their full complement of phytochemicals, are more bioactive than any single substance they might contain. Adding new fruits and vegetables in new combinations and varieties may be more healthful still.

Phytochemicals seem to work cooperatively to exert their effects so that the benefits, when they are taken together, are often greater than the sum of the parts. For example, it has been shown that the antioxidant effects of a combination of red apples, blueberries, grapes and oranges are much larger than when any of the fruits are taken individually.

Even different varieties of the same fruit or vegetable can provide different compounds to the body. For example, a deep-purple blood orange shares phytochemicals in common with berries, while a navel orange doesn't, so the two offer somewhat different benefits. The pairing of different foods may affect how well these nutrients are absorbed. Colorful carotenoids, for example, are all fat-soluble, so small amounts of fat eaten at the same time (a teaspoon or less in each meal) helps the body efficiently use them.

Scientists have shown that the healthful fat in avocado helps the body absorb the carotenoids in romaine, carrots and tomato. Thus, guacamole and salsa eaten together may pack a better punch than either one eaten alone.

Finally, while this may not be welcome news to raw food enthusiasts, cooking carotenoid-rich spinach, carrots and tomatoes releases the carotenoids from the whole food, making them up to six times more bioavailable than when the foods are eaten fresh.

Courtesy LA Times

Bonnie - as we have always said...variety, variety, variety!