I’ve read that unprocessed plant foods, particularly vegetables, fruits, nuts, and whole grains, contain ‘phytochemicals’ not found in other foods. For example, carrots contain carotenoids, berries contain polyphenols, etc. While phytochemicals are not ‘required’ to fulfill basic dietary needs, they seem to have amazing-sounding health benefits: they “have antioxidant properties and offer protection that decreases the risk of many diseases and cancers.”
With cancer and heart disease specifically, for a non-scientist, what does that quote mean exactly – what are the basic biological mechanisms behind these benefits? And just how significant of a difference for longevity are we talking – a marginal decrease in earliness of cancer/disease/death or much more than that?
In: Biology
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