BITTER (AND SHARP) ORGANIC WHOLE FOODS PROTECT AGAINST CANCER

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As discussed in Mindful Nutrition, How to Make the Most of a Whole-Foods Diet (due out in November 2011), the excessive consumption of some hard-to-digest foods such as fatty meats and dairy products, cow’s milk in particular, easily lead to various forms of cancer.  But cancers are usually caused by a number of factors, one of which can belong to the category of  ‘what we fail to eat’.  Today, bitter foods, in particular, are avoided, both by the farming and food industries, and by consumers.  That’s a pity because organic bitter whole foods help protect us, amongst other ills, from cancer. 

About 1000 cancer cells are created in the body each day. Usually they are rapidly and efficiently destroyed and do not lead to the formation of growths.  But a sedentary lifestyle and an indifferent diet may leave the more vulnerable population groups in the cold.  These vulnerable groups include the under-sevens, the elderly, the chronically ill, and chronically stressed individuals.  When it comes to our diet, bitter (and sharp) food compounds help destroy cancer cells. Bitter and sharp compounds represent evolutionary strategies devised by plants to protect themselves from predation. In humans, they help protect against cancer. 

The substances concerned in the defence against cancer have been identified as a group of phytonutrients named ‘salvestrols’ (‘salve’ for  ‘to rescue’ and ‘strol’ from ‘resveratrol, the first salvestrol identified).  They are fytoalexins, substances that protect plants against stressors such as bacteria, fungi, viruses and insects. In humans, salvestrols destroy cancer cells whilst not being toxic to healthy cells. Salvestrols abound in bitter foods.

Unfortunately, bitter foods are not popular. In a world that is addicted to ‘nice’ rather than ‘vital’ meals, bitter flavours tend to be avoided. Think of Belgian endive, the hearts of Belgian endive (best part!), the outer leaves of cabbages, carrot greens, the green parts of leeks and scallions, the skins of pumpkins and fruit, and the inner skins of chestnuts, to name but a few.  In their breeding programs, the farming sector shies away from the more bitter compounds in fruit, herbs and vegetables in favour of plants low in salvestrols and not without reason. Most people prefer sweet-tasting sprouts, for example, over the more bitter varieties. And people like to choose new varieties of vegetables and fruit that are of the same size, colour and form.  The older varieties, and the less attractive looking specimens, those that tend to be richer in salvestrols, are left on the shelves. 

Food manufacturers also remove salvestrols to enhance the flavour, colour and transparency in (refined) food products such as fruit juices and olive oil. The product becomes sweeter without the need for additional sugar. This can apply to the health food sector as well!  On the whole, refined products contain little or no salvestrols.  The same applies to non-organic whole foods. The use of  pesticides, such as weed killers, herbicides and fungicides, virtually eliminates the protective phytonutrients in  vegetables, fruits and herbs. When they are artificially applied, as in pesticides, plants no longer need to manufacture there own protective compounds. So, sprayed crops are a double-edged sword: they are low in salvestrols and they contain cancerous pesticide residues. 

Overall, our food pattern today contains 80 to 90% less salvestrols than fifty to a hundred years ago.  The overall reduction in protective salvestrols and the increase of cancerous substances in our food may have contributed to increased cancer rates.

Unprocessed organic vegetables, fruits and herbs alone contain relevant amounts of salvestrols.  Older varieties of (bitter) vegetables, fruit and herbs are highest in salvestrols, therefore better still.  Many traditional medicinal herbs contain high levels of salvestrols. As always, vegetables grown in the cold ground, as against green houses, are better again. Bitter foods probably help protect those who eat organic products against various forms of cancer.

Important organic sources of salvestrols:

Vegetables: green vegetables, artichokes, water cress, rucola, asparagus, all cabbages, peppers, avocado, sprouted soy beans, wild carrots, celery, cucumber, spinach, pumpkin, courgette (zucchini), aubergine (eggplant).

Fruit: red fruits, olives, berries, grapes, apples, strawberries, prunes, figs, raspberries, mandarin oranges, oranges, mulberries, pears, melon, pineapple, mango.

Herbs: parsley, basil, rosemary, thyme, sage, mint, dandelion, rooibos (tea), plantain, rose hip, milk thistle, hawthorn(berry), camomile, lemonbalm.

References:

Potter GA, Burke MD Salvestrols – natural products with tumour selective activity. Journal of Orthomol Medicine 2006: (21)1:34-36.

Leni Hurley, 2011.

Author Details: Leni Hurley