Everybody knows that fruit and veg are good for you. The NHS advise that the second most important thing you can do to reduce the risk of cancer and heart disease is to eat more fruit and veg ( the first is to not smoke).

Interestingly whilst it’s a proven scientific fact that eating fruit and veg reduces incidences of all major diseases , it’s not yet fully understood why.  What we do know is that it’s essential to eat fruit and veg as they provide  two main things:

• Phytonutrients and essential non- antioxidant vitamins and minerals
• Antioxidants

What is a phytonutrient?

A phytonutrient is a nutritionally important compound found only in plants.

Anti-oxidants are the good guys. They protect the body against the damaging effects of oxidisation (this is the same process that turns an apple brown when you’ve bitten into it). The most well-known antioxidants are nutrients such as vitamins A, C, E, selenium and carotenoids (e.g beta-carotene). There are some anti-oxidants which are specific to fruits and vegetables such as anthocyanins and flavanoids which help to give them their colour and flavour.

Most of the berries  are in the purple/red family and the colour in these fruits comes  from a group of chemicals called anthocyanins.

The deep orange family contain fruits and veggies rich in the carotenes. Carrots, pumpkins, mangoes, apricots and  cantaloupe are some of the foods in this group.

The yellow-orange family contain the citrus fruits as well as peaches, nectarines, pineapple and papaya. These fruits are rich in vitamin C and flavanoids.

The baddies responsible for the damaging process of oxidation are unstable oxygen molecules known as free radicals. Free radicals are  unstable as they only contain a single electron, so are always hungry to find a partner. In their quest to do this, they attack and damage healthy cells and can transform DNA – this is the process that can lead to the development of cancers. Furthermore, free radicals can damage the fatty acids in your blood and induce the hardening of your arteries, which won’t help your heart one bit.

Free radicals are a fact of life and are present in your body under normal circumstances from 3 main sources:

• immune cells make free radicals to fight infections (to kill bacteria), so that maintaining the supply of antioxidants is especially important during infections, when free radicals will be in excess.
• all of the oxygen molecules we breathe in are converted to unstable free radicals during respiration.
• Also additional free radicals can also some from the environment in which we live. A combination of  pollution, fatty foods, cigarette smoke and alcohol can contribute to their creation.

Because of this natural presence of free radicals, a diet rich in fruit and veg is necessary  to ensure that you get enough antioxidants.