Fiber is the Future

Like all of its citrus counterparts, grapefruit is a great source of vitamin C. One medium-sized fruit has 150% of your daily value for C, plus 3 grams of fiber in just 75 calories.

But grapefruit rears its ugly head when taken with certain medications.

It has long been known that this bulbous beauty is contraindicated with some pharmacotherapies. What’s new though, is just how many drugs don’t jive with the tastebud-teasing fruit.

A report published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal found that the number of hazardous drugs that are not compatible with grapefruit jumped from 17 drugs in 2008 to 43 in 2012.

Grapefruit can be lethal when its compounds called furanocoumarins inhibit your body’s ability to metabolize and breakdown certain drugs. This leads to toxicity levels that induce a drug overdose, which in turn can have deadly consequences.

Lipitor is perhaps the most commonly known drug that requires avoidance of grapefruit…but it isn’t the only one. You can find the full list of drugs with grapefruit precautions here.

A new study indicates that fiber may play a significant role in cutting stroke risk.

The systematic review and meta-analysis published in the journal Stroke looked at data from 8 studies involving over 327,000 individuals. Those who had the greatest intakes of fiber were the least likely to have had a stroke when compared to those with lower fiber intakes.

While the study did not differentiate between insoluble and soluble fiber intake, a combined extra 7 grams of dietary fiber per day lowered risk of hemorrhagic and ischemic stroke by 7%.

Considering that most Americans eat only about half of the roughly 30 grams of fiber per day they need, 7 grams might not sound like a lot – but it certainly can do a lot when it comes to overall cardiovascular disease risk profile.

What’s the best way to get your fiber? Fill up on naturally occurring sources of fiber: fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, and nuts and seeds.

This past weekend at the Phoenix Public Market, I came across an ancient fruit that was entirely new to me: the pichuberry.

The pichuberry hails from the Andean highlands of Peru, Chile, Ecuador, and Colombia. Its scientific name is Physalis peruviana, physalis meaning “bladder” – which refers to its bladder-like covering, the calyx.

Pichuberries are also called the Incan berry, Cape gooseberry, goldenberry, ground cherry, and uchuva.  They look like yellow grape tomatoes, but are encased in a papery calyx similar to that of a tomatillo.

These marble-sized berries are incredibly flavorful, with a taste somewhere between the sweetness of a super-ripe tomato and a tad of tartness you might find in a citrus fruit.

While the pichuberry has been around for ages, it is just now gaining momentum and garnering interest in scientific and nutrition studies, due in large part to its rich antioxidant content, including polyphenols and carotenoids that may possess anti-inflammatory properties.

According to pichuberry.com, a 3.5 ounce serving of pichuberries has 65 calories, 2 g protein and 1 g fiber. It is also a good source of vitamin C and is said to have more vitamin A than many other dark orange and yellow fruits or vegetables.

You might not be able to find the pichuberry in your area yet – but don’t be surprised if you start hearing about it more frequently.With its “superfruit” marketing potential and exotic, indigenous origins, the pichuberry is primed to take off as perhaps the next açaí or goji berry.

But unlike many other superfruits – this one doesn’t need added sugar and salt to make it palatable. Pichuberries are absolutely delicious, just the way they are!

Just when you thought broccoli couldn’t get any better for you, here comes Beneforté.

With a marketing effort that plays up its concentrated phytonutrient content, Beneforté broccoli  was developed by scientists who crossbred traditional British broccoli with wild Sicilian broccoli.

The result is a broccoli that has just as much vitamins C, A, and fiber as regular broccoli, but with 2-3 times the amount of glucoraphanin.

What, exactly, is glucoraphanin?

Glucoraphanin is a phytonutrient, it is a glucosinolate that converts to sulforaphane, another phytonutrient that may help produce enzymes that detoxify carcinogens and stop other enzymes that activate carcinogens.

According to the website of Beneforté, which is owned by Monsanto, Beneforté has about 2.5 times as much glucoraphanin as conventional broccoli, and 10 times the amount in cabbage.

Despite its higher glucoraphanin content, it is important to keep in mind that fruits, vegetables, and the health benefits they convey are a sum of their parts. Slightly higher levels of a particular phytonutrient do not ensure a products’ ability to fight cancer. It is more likely that the harmonious interplay of the numerous nutrients and compounds in fruits and vegetables are what yield beneficial health effects.

All cruciferous vegetables in the Brassicacae family – like kale, broccoli, cauliflower, and bok choy – are rich sources of vitamin C, folate, potassium, vitamin K, beta carotene, and potassium.

Beneforté might have more glucoraphanin, but whether or not that really plays a role in preventing cancer in humans, remains to be seen.

A few other drawbacks of this enhanced broccoli product:

• The product is not organic – it is not genetically engineered, but it is not organic
• Pre-packaging almost always increases price – buying fresh produce that has not been packaged gets you more bang for your buck
• No established health problems have been linked to low levels of glucoraphanin, so who is to say that more of it is better?
• Broccoli by itself is perfectly nutritious – there are certainly better parts of the typical diet that need improvement more than broccoli does!

We often think of diet and cancer in terms of fruits and vegetables: those with higher intakes of high fiber foods (including fruits and vegetables) tend to have lower rates of certain types of cancer.

It also appears that high meat intake levels are linked with higher rates of cancer – but whether or not that’s something about the meat, or rather that meat-eaters are less likely to eat a lot of fruits and vegetables, is not entirely understood.

But a new study published in the American Journal of Public Health may get you thinking about something you should also consume less of when it comes to cancer risk: alcohol.

The researchers looked at years of potential of life lost from alcohol related to cancer and found that 3.2-3.7% of all US cancer death can be attributable to alcohol. That might not sound like a lot, but it equates to 18,200-21,300 cancer deaths per year.

The types of cancer alcohol is most tied to? Breast cancer in women and upper airway and esophageal cancer in men.

Even moderate alcohol intake may be harmful. The researchers also found that the equivalent of 1.5 drinks per day accounted for 26% to 35% of alcohol-attributable cancer deaths.

To learn more about diet and cancer, joint my Coursera class Nutrition for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention. Next week’s topic is all about what we know (and don’t know) when it comes to evidence on diet, drinking, and lifestyle choices and cancer risk.