Food synergy: a relatively new science says the key to health may be not what you eat, but how you eat. Here's how to make it work for you.

When you add a steaming heap of broccoli to your dinner plate, you're sure that you are eating healthfully. And it's true. You are. Because foods rich in disease-fighting phytochemicals, like broccoli, are smart additions to any diet.

But suppose you could get even more health benefits from that broccoli by eating it with certain other vegetables. This idea is in line with a relatively new science called food synergy, which says that the key to health may not be what you eat, but rather eating food combinations that biochemically balance each other.

When that happens, it makes already nutritious foods even more so, says David Jacobs, PhD, professor of ...