Newswise — It turns out your mother was right: eat ALL your vegetables if you want to stay healthy. In laboratory tests, researchers at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology have discovered that antioxidants in supplement form don't measure up to the benefits that come from eating the whole vegetables or fruits from which they are derived. In addition, they found that eating combinations of these foods " rather than just one " increases their benefits and preventive properties against cardiovascular disease because each contains a variety of different antioxidants that work together synergistically. Dietary antioxidants are natural compounds that slow the chemical process called oxidation, which causes cholesterol deposition and narrowing of the arteries.
"Whole fruits and vegetables contain a wide range of natural antioxidants," said Professor Michael Aviram, head of the Lipid Research Laboratory at the Faculty of Medicine. "In supplement form, however, antioxidants provide only limited benefits since they usually contain only one specific, isolated antioxidant."
Professor Aviram, who has been studying for many years the effects of various foods on cholesterol oxidation and cardiovascular diseases, suggests vegetables like onions and tomatoes, herbs like garlic, licorice and rosemary, and fruits like grapes (and red wine) and pomegranates as good sources of a variety of natural antioxidants.
The Technion researchers also found that ingesting combinations of certain antioxidants yields better results than those same antioxidants ingested separately.
"Take vitamin E, for instance, which only fights a specific type of free radical," explained Aviram. "When vitamin E is combined with other antioxidants (beta carotene, lycopene and some flavonoids) found in tomatoes, the benefits are far greater than those of vitamin E taken alone, because there is a synergistic, cooperative interaction between certain antioxidants."
These findings were published in the December 2002 issue of Free Radical Research, and before that in the October 2000 issue of Antioxidants and Redox Signaling.
In his previous widely published studies, Aviram was the first to prove that red wine reduces cholesterol oxidation and arteriosclerosis, which leads to heart disease, a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the Western world. Later studies confirmed the antioxidant benefits of licorice, olive oil, onions and pomegranates.
The Technion-Israel Institute of Technology is Israel's leading science and technology university. It commands a worldwide reputation for its pioneering work in computer science, biotechnology, water-resource management, materials engineering, aerospace and medicine. The majority of the founders and managers of Israel's high-tech companies are alumni. Based in New York City, the American Technion Society is the leading American organization supporting higher education in Israel, with more than 20,000 supporters and 17 offices around the country.
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