Disease-fighting vegetable medley.(health)(Brief Article)

Variety, the spice of life, is also the path to good health. In recent years researchers have shown that various phytochemicals--substances that plants use to ward off insects, viruses, bacteria, and cell mutations--can lessen disease risk in people and animals who dine on the plants containing them. Phytochemicals affect the color of many vegetables and fruits; hence the advice to eat a rainbow of produce has replaced the old view that green is supreme.

Now, new research suggests that combining certain fruits and vegetables in a single meal boosts their disease-fighting power. Laboratory animals fed a combination of tomatoes and broccoli had markedly less prostate-tumor growth than those that ate either food alone, according to a recently presented study scheduled to appear in the Journal of ...