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Unlike vitamins and minerals, the thousands of phytochemicals in plants don't seem to have any nutritive value, but they apparently protect the body against cancer, heart disease and other illnesses.

The best-known phytochemical is beta-carotene, the vitamin A precursor found in carrots, sweet potatoes and greens; it is believed to prevent oxidation of free radicals, which can turn cells cancerous. Broccoli, cabbage and other members of the brassica family contain sulforaphane as well as indoles and isothiocyanates, which appear to fight various cancers. And a majority of studies have linked the allyl sulfides in allium vegetables such as garlic and onions with lower rates of gastrointestinal cancer, according to the journal Phytomedicine.

If all this puts you in the mood for pasta primavera, skip the high-fat Alfredo sauce and go for the classic red stuff. Tomatoes are teeming with phytochemicals, as many as 10,000 of them. Leading the pack is lycopen--the nutrient that gives tomatoes their color--which has potent antioxidant properties. One Harvard University study showed that men who consumed large quantities of tomato-based foods had about half the risk of prostate cancer as those who consumed very little. And a report in the American Journal of Epidemiology stated that those who ate the most lycopene-rich foods lowered their risk of heart attack by 50 percent. (If you were scared by a tomato as a child, you can also find lycopene in apricots, guava, pink grapefruit and watermelon.)

Even the oil in your tomato sauce can be good for you. Vegetable oils--the best natural source of vitamin E--also contain alphalinolenie acid, which the digestive process converts into inflammation-fighting, heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids. Add dill to the sauce to boost monoterpenes, and skip your post-pasta espresso for polyphenol-rich green tea with limonene-containing lemon--all of which have been associated with lowered cancer risk. Trading a slice of chocolate cheesecake for a fruit cocktail of grapes, strawberries and raspberries (a good idea in any case) provides ellagic acid, a tannin that may block enzymes needed for cancer cells to reproduce.

# posted by Medical Information : 1:14 PM