Phytochemicals - YLAM240033

SPEAKER 1 This program presents ways to optimise health and well being. When considering lifestyle changes, please consult with your healthcare provider to assure they are suitable for you. SPEAKER 2 Hello and welcome. I'm Kaysie Vokurka. I'm sure you've heard the saying, the difference between the ordinary and the extraordinary is that little extra. Well, when it comes to food, plant foods have something extra that makes them truly extraordinary. Stay tuned to find out more. SPEAKER 1 This is yous Lifestyle as Medicine, a production of 3 ABN Australia Television. SPEAKER 2 It's great to have you with us on this program where we look at ways that you can shape your lifestyle as medicine. Today we'll be talking about the fascinating world of phytochemicals, one of the extras that plant foods offer. We are delighted to have Dr. Winston Craig, adjunct professor of Public Health at Loma Linda University with us once more to take us through this topic. Dr. Winston Craig has a special passion for nutrition and well being which has been the focus of his career for many decades. Welcome to the program, Winston. SPEAKER 1 Thank you very much. Pleasure to be here. SPEAKER 2 Yeah, so glad to have you with us once again. And you have done lots and lots of research and just been immersed in nutrition for such a long time. I'm wondering why does the world of phytochemicals have such a special interest for you? SPEAKER 1 Oh my. Being trained as an organic chemist in Australia, when I hit the exposure in the literature of phytochemicals, I thought, and having an interest in food, I thought this is the perfect marriage of food with chemistry. Because understanding all the chemistry behind and the metabolic pathways of these substances just is mind boggling. It's just so immense information to investigate. Initially, of course we've unraveled quite a bit of it, but just, it's just so beautiful to see pigments that we take for granted, the reds and the yellows and the greens and the blues. Actually there's some health story behind those. SPEAKER 2 Interesting. SPEAKER 1 Kind of as a. Come on. Yeah, yeah, come on and learn. Because there's so many fascinating stories behind that. SPEAKER 2 Yeah. So you probably feel like it's, it's almost like a playground for you to explore. You know, you just love it so much. SPEAKER 1 You come up with lovely words. I like that. The playground. Exactly. The mind just goes wild just exploring and discovering all of this. SPEAKER 2 That's nice. That's really good. Well, we're looking forward to talking about this a bit further. So can you tell me what actually are phytochemicals? SPEAKER 1 Okay, well, just a little story. First of all, when I one of the first Lectures I gave in Michigan. They wanted me to talk on this topic and they asked me for my title and I just said phytochemicals and my Aussie accent or what, I don't know. But they advertise it as fighter chemicals. When I got there I thought good job. Yeah. This is a perfect description of what they are they are fighting for, for us. When we think of the word chemicals, some people freeze because they think of pesticides and those sort of things. But these are chemicals that are put into the food by our creator and they don't have any harmful effects. But actually they are the opposite. And the word phyto means plant. So these are plant substances that go like you put in your introduction, extras. We all know about all the vitamins, fat soluble vitamins, water soluble soluble vitamins, minerals, trace minerals, carbs and protein, you know, all those 40 odd nutrients. This is beyond that. SPEAKER 2 Wow. SPEAKER 1 And we, you know, traditionally we haven't thought of them as being nutrients, but they, as we are discovering they have so many positive, health promoting valuable characteristics. So we just have to talk about them because they're important. We need to know where they are. And there's a slide that we have we can put up there. Showing you. The typical western diet shows that phytochemicals are rather scarce because you see they're in fruits and vegetables and westerners don't tend to eat enough of those healthy foods. They're also in the whole grains and cereals. They tend to be in the bran and the durum. So when you refine rice or wheat and remove those parts, 90% of the phytochemicals are bye bye. SPEAKER 2 Oh my. SPEAKER 1 So that's another issue. The western diet is often full of sugar, junk sort of foods and then typically animal protein is used rather than beans and tofu, which being plant foods, they have the phytochemicals. Animal foods don't have dairy, meat, chicken, fish, they don't have phytochemicals. So it's in the plant foods and it's in the whole foods. So we want to emphasize, if we forget everything else, we want to emphasize that whole foods foods are the best because they have the phytochemicals there and the more you process, the more they fall away. SPEAKER 2 Yeah. So it's not like just any food from plants is going to be good. You actually have to go for the ones that have been minimally processed to really get the rich. SPEAKER 1 Right. And in the next picture I think it is, we show that color is synonymous with protection. SPEAKER 2 Interesting. SPEAKER 1 We talk about having your plate like a rainbow. SPEAKER 2 Yes. SPEAKER 1 You know, you got the red, orange, yellow, blue, green. Well, our food should be just like that. And you can see from this list here, we'll go through it. The outer leaves are the vegetable, the lettuce. The cabbage has more of the phytochemicals. SPEAKER 2 Darker, rich color, aren't they? SPEAKER 1 Exactly. The more intense the color, the indication there's more phytochemicals. And you might say, why is that? Well, the phytochemicals are there to protect the plant. The plant needs to be protected against solar radiation, insects and other things. So these chemicals, phytochemicals, are actually in that. And if we go back to the list, we'll see with fruits, the outer layers of the fruits. You know, you look at a strawberry, you go into the middle, it's white, whereas the outer edges is red. The same with other apples and so forth. It's not true of all of them because peaches can have golden centers. But in a lot of cases, the phytochemicals are concentrated in the skin, the nuts, the little pellic of the brown skin on the outside. Some people like to blanch their nuts, blanch their almonds, their hazelnuts, whatever. Thus saying bye bye to. To phytochemicals. Again, 90% of them are lost the coat in the beans and lentils. You know, there's red, yellow, all different colors. Legumes, the pigments are in that skin. So we don't tend to remove the skins of legumes, so that's not a problem. But when it comes to olive oil, the first pressed extra virgin olive oil has all the phytochemicals still in it. And if you buy pure olive oil, it's actually a misnomer because it means it's been refined and then a little bit of extra virgin added back to give it the color. So you want to make sure the label says extra virgin, because there are all kinds of phytochemicals there that can help with diminishing blood clots and protect against cancer and so forth and so on. And then I think the last one on that picture says whole grains, which we've already mentioned, that when you take away the bran and the germ, you're left with the starchy middle, which doesn't have very much in the way of phytochemicals. So Whole Foods color, you see color as protection, and it's important to keep that in mind. SPEAKER 2 Absolutely. I think I've heard some people describe phytochemicals as being like the plant's immune system. SPEAKER 1 Yeah, that would be a good description. SPEAKER 2 Yeah. And so I guess it's kind of like we're taking some of their goodness and putting it in our own body to use in our own, I guess, immune system and various other. SPEAKER 1 Absolutely. And many of them do in fact, bolster our immune system. So your analogy is spot on. So, yeah, the protection the plant gets, we also have the benefit, but in a slightly different way. We have the benefit of many different metabolic pathways that shore up our health. SPEAKER 2 That's so interesting, isn't it? Wow. So obviously there are just endless numbers of them. Obviously various different. SPEAKER 1 Over 20,000. SPEAKER 2 Over 20,000. Okay. SPEAKER 1 There's a lot, but they are broken down into families and we'll get into that. SPEAKER 2 Yeah, yeah. Okay. So. And the way to tell generally, of course, is as whole as possible. And color. There are clues. If people are saying, oh, what can I eat that's high in phytochemicals, look for those things and that will be setting you on the right path. SPEAKER 1 There are always exceptions with the rules you make. SPEAKER 2 Okay, yeah. SPEAKER 1 And then the exceptions are like radish, cauliflower, tofu. What color are those three? White. And yet those three that I've listed are rich in phytochemicals. So not all phytochemicals announce their presence by saying, I'm red, I'm purple. There are some exceptions, but in the cases that I gave, of course, using the plant food as naturally, as it grows is desirable. SPEAKER 2 Very good. Okay, so you mentioned about some different families of phytochemicals. Can you take us through a few of those just to get a bit of an idea of what they are, where we find them, what they can do. SPEAKER 1 So there's the carotenoids. The carotenoids are yellow and orange and some of the red. Not all of them. But you see on the list in front of you, carotenoids is right at the top and it's listing there the yellow, orange, red fruits and vegetables and green leafies. The green is chlorophyll, but it's masking the crops just like the maple leaves are green. But when the green is withdrawn in the autumn time, you see the yellow, beautiful golden color. So that's the beautiful autumn colors of the crotonoids. So these are on all the pumpkin, squash, mango, peaches and things that are of that color. All the green leafies mention red, red. There is one red pigment, and that's called lycopene, and that's in tomatoes. And the tomatoes are a Good source of that. But if you don't like to eat just tomatoes, you can eat guava, watermelon, red grapefruit, papaya. I mean, any of those foods. Just bring them on. I'll have any of them. So the lycopene has been shown to help with prostate cancer. Eating a serving a day, every day for the week can lower. Loma Linda University showed it may be up to 40% reduced risk of getting prostate cancer. So, you know, these foods are very protective. Now, the interesting thing about these carotenoids is that they're better absorbed when you cook the food. SPEAKER 2 Interesting. SPEAKER 1 Some people have the idea that raw, everything. Yeah, whole foods and raw. But that's not necessarily the case with phytochemicals, because sometimes they're attached to protein or something, and cooking them releases. And so when you eat them, the absorption is better. For example, with the tomatoes, we know that people who eat raw tomato versus if the tomatoes have been cooked in some way prepared, those that are eating them cooked can have twice as much of that pigment flowing in their bloodstream, meaning that it had been absorbed twice as well. And that is also true with other phytochemicals that we'll talk about. So we have to expand our willingness to realize that cooked foods are part of a good healthy diet. It shouldn't necessarily be all raw, because I know there are people out there just pushing. SPEAKER 2 That's true. SPEAKER 1 Only raw. SPEAKER 2 Raw, you know, and that's such a good question, because I was wondering about that. You know, how are these ones, Are all these phytochemicals, you know, heat stable, or is there pros and cons for cooking versus raw? So that's a very interesting point. SPEAKER 1 They tend to be like minerals. SPEAKER 2 Okay. SPEAKER 1 You know, minerals are fairly stable, but if you chop up food in small pieces and boil it with a lot of water, they get leached out. The minerals and the phytochemicals are similar. So if you microwave or steam, they're fairly stable. The phytochemicals aren't going to run away on you. But if you are chopping up the vegetable into small pieces and then boiling it, then you'll lose a substantial amount. SPEAKER 2 Okay. SPEAKER 1 So that's just a little thing to remember for cooking processes, for processing. Yeah. We're coming back to your question, though. Another big family are the anthocyanins. And these are some of the most potent antioxidants. SPEAKER 2 Okay. SPEAKER 1 One of the good properties that phytochemicals have is they provide antioxidant. So for metabolism, we generate a Lot of free radicals and they can do damage to certain. So when the body has a natural system of clearing out and taking care of all that. And that's one of the benefits of sleep. While we're asleep, the brain clears out all the free radicals from the metabolic activities during the day. And so things are reset. Hormones are checked, levels, enzyme levels are checked, and the brain does all this while we're sleeping. So just throwing this in, this is a value for good sleep habits in addition to eating. So we talk about three great benefits towards health. The CDC in America talks about good diet, regular exercise and abundant sleep are the three legs upon which a healthy lifestyle rests. And this is just one example to show that. So back to the anthracite. These are the other reds and the blues and the purples, very powerful antioxidants. And these are found in cherries, in plums, and in most of the berries. So a serving of berries is just right on. And the blueberries, research has shown they not only protect us against cancer, but they actually can stimulate nerve cell development in the hippocampus, which is the memory center of the brain. SPEAKER 2 Oh, we need that. SPEAKER 1 Don't some of us desperately need to safeguard our hippocampus? So there are subtle things that these phytochemicals can do. The soya bean, of course, is rather unique because it has isoflavones. There's two or three of them there, and they are very rich in this and protection against breast cancer, prostate cancer. They also lower cholesterol, blood cholesterol levels. So there are good benefits. And of course, soy has been maligned over the years because people have said that, well, the structure of these isofavones look a little bit like estrogen. So they've been called phytoestrogens. Well, they do, they do lock into estrogen receptors, but universally they don't act like estrogens. Sometimes they do and sometimes they don't. In breast tissue, they're anti estrogen, so they're protective against breast cancer. In bone tissue, the receptors are actually the isoflavones actually act like estrogen. So that means they stimulate bone density. SPEAKER 2 That's also very. SPEAKER 1 So that's what you want. SPEAKER 2 Yeah, exactly. SPEAKER 1 So this is a win win protects against breast cancer and builds bone tissue. And so as you get older, you have the benefit of both. So these phytochemicals are working in many subtle ways. And then of course, the spices are loaded with these. And so garlic, ginger, onions and so forth have many phytochemicals. Cinnamon has one cinnamaldehyde that actually increases insulin sensitivity. So if you're diabetic, half a teaspoon of cinnamon a day can be like taking a mild form of medicine. SPEAKER 2 Wow. SPEAKER 1 So, yeah, there's a lot of value. So there's a whole different stream of different families. And I found. I think we've put that picture up again. You can see here the families. There's not, as I mentioned, 20,000. We're not going to put all the names of them on the board, but these are the families. SPEAKER 2 So for each of these families, like, it might represent what, a few hundred different chemicals is that? SPEAKER 1 Or maybe half a dozen, but some, like carotenoids. There are hundreds. SPEAKER 2 Okay. Yeah. SPEAKER 1 And these on the right hand, it shows you the protection. Of course, what we've focused on here is cancer. SPEAKER 2 Yes. SPEAKER 1 And so the question that I would ask when you look at this is, so what's the magic food? SPEAKER 2 A whole lot, Right. SPEAKER 1 It's variety, isn't it? You have to eat good variety because they are found all over the place. And the next picture shows you regarding mechanisms. I think we have that picture. Maybe we don't have that, but There are like 25 different mechanisms by which these work. SPEAKER 2 Okay. SPEAKER 1 And so they don't all work the same way. So if you're taking different foods, guess what, you're getting different phytochemicals. And they're all protecting us in different ways. Now, to add to all that we've said, they not only have beautiful protection against cancer, but they also protect against cardiovascular disease. And I was headed down that pathway when I started talking about spices, because garlic is full of sulfur compounds and onions that inhibit blood clots. SPEAKER 2 Interesting. SPEAKER 1 So, you know, some of them lower cholesterol, blood lipid levels, but some also inhibit the oxidation of cholesterol, which is the major process preceding the laying down of the plaque in blood vessels. So if you can block its oxidation, you're actually preventing that atherosclerotic process. So the spices can do that. So add a little garlic, use some onions in your cooking, you know, add a little ginger here and there, and you get all of these benefits. So it's the whole range of things that we've talked about. Beans, sorry, beans, whole grains, spices, fruits and vegetables, legumes, all the plant foods. We're not leaving anything out. Everything has some phytochemical, and they all do some protection. Some do against heart disease, some do against diabetes, but most of them work against cancer, protecting us against cancer. So they'll block genetic mutations. They'll act as antioxidants. They'll block enzymes that activate compounds to form carcinogens. If there are cancers or cancer carcinogens from the food we eat, there are enzymes that get activated by the phytochemicals to shut these down. So there's just a multitude of things going on while you're not. While you're sitting here living your life. This is all happening inside of you from lunch that you have. SPEAKER 2 Yeah, yeah, for sure. That's so amazing. And you know what I'm thinking of? I'm thinking about an army and how everyone can have different specialties and trainings, and they're all at work protecting in as many avenues as possible. It sounds like that's what's really happening because there's just so many different things going on and they're all working to protect and help us. It's amazing. SPEAKER 1 And they also. Some of them actually help with the immune system, like garlic. So, you know, the immune system kept healthy. That protects us against cancer. And. Yeah, it's just a wonderful analogy you give of having an army with different skills. Some are shooting rockets, some are shooting drones into the air and, you know, everything. The body is working in many different ways to keep us healthy. SPEAKER 2 Yeah. SPEAKER 1 We thank God that we've been created that way. And he made the food not only pretty, yes, tasty, enjoyable, but full of things that protect us. SPEAKER 2 Yeah, yeah. Because as you say, the flavors and smells, that's from the phytochemicals as well, isn't it? They help to contribute to that. SPEAKER 1 Yes. And the bitter flavor, you know, the cruciferous. We haven't talked much about the cruciferous, but that's another family. These are the isothiocyanates. And so forhan is one that's particularly rich in the cruciferous, and it's very strong at protecting us against cancer. So, yeah, there are different warfare agents that are out there protecting us in just incredible ways. SPEAKER 2 And so it sounds to me like two key processes that they are working on are both protecting things like damage, say DNA damage and that kind of thing as well. As you mentioned, like, the antioxidant effects are helping to reduce free radicals, dampen down the inflammation pathways, and that kind of thing. These are some of the key processes. SPEAKER 1 That are going on, doing protection before the damage happens, as well as cleaning up some of the damage that has happened in the normal process. And another interesting thing about phytochemicals, I think we have a slide on this is regarding synergy. SPEAKER 2 Okay. SPEAKER 1 Yes. You know, we have the Picture here on the screen. As you know, when I went to school, math was one plus one is two. That was kind of universal. But when you get into phytochemistry, there's a new mathematics. One plus one is three. Because when you eat, as shown on the screen, the broccoli, which has the isothiocyanate, and the tomato, which has the red pigment lycopene, when they work together in terms of, in this case, prostate tumor growth, they're more powerful than either one of them. Just kind of adding together, their actions overlap so that they amplify the action. So that's another reason why variety is important, because you just. Things jump in and you get more mileage out of the food. SPEAKER 2 That's so interesting. SPEAKER 1 It's just incredible. SPEAKER 2 It is incredible. And I guess that kind of brings me to a question. I was wondering about supplements, because obviously most of those lists that you showed before about the different group, you can buy them as supplements, but is that a good way to go or is it best to go with the food? SPEAKER 1 Well, usually the supplements come like, for example, one is resveratrol. That's found in grapes. And everybody knows about the value of grapes. That's why they promote wine. It's really the grapes and the grape skins. And this compound can. Can slow down aging, it can lower the risk of blood clots, et cetera, protect against a number of cancers, and it's available as a pill, like some others. Nutritionists generally say that these phytochemicals are best obtained from foods because they work together. And we don't know what the matrix is in the food. We're guessing we know what one is doing. We think that that's going to be. So these supplements, they can work like lutein and zeaxanthin is in the macula of the eye. And, you know, people who have a problem might need to take that, but generally, food is the best way to go. SPEAKER 2 Very good. Oh, well, thank you so much for that. SPEAKER 1 Enjoy your food. SPEAKER 2 Yeah, absolutely. SPEAKER 1 When you see all the color, it's dancing at you. SPEAKER 2 That's the so true. Yeah. Thank you so much for sharing from your knowledge and expertise. I really appreciate it. Such an interesting topic as well. So thank you so much for coming today. I appreciate it. We've been talking about phytochemicals with Dr. Winston Craig, who's adjunct professor of public health at Loma Linda University. I don't know about you, but I find the realm of phytochemicals absolutely incredible. And there are just so many of them. With such varied roles and benefits, and there's so much to learn about them. So I hope this program has inspired you to fill your plate with phytochemicals so you can reap their rich benefits. If you have questions about this program, contact us on [email protected] and remember to shape your Lifestyle as Medicine. SPEAKER A You've been listening to Your Lifestyle as Medicine, a production of 3ABN Australia television.