Phytomania

Phytochemical is the new buzz word in food and health,
but it actually has substance.

Science today is starting to uncover the health benefits of phytochemicals and the evidence is hard to ignore.

An acquaintance of mine gave me a book to read called “What Your Food Ate” and whilst some of the ‘science bit’ is a challenge to understand the thesis of the book is clear, our soil matters. Over the last century our farming methods have changed and have damaged the beneficial compounds that we once enjoyed when eating fresh fruit, vegetables, meat and dairy. Yes, fresh produce is still good for us but it is not as good as it once was.

The word you will hear and read more of in the coming months is ‘phytochemicals’. Plants produce phytochemicals as part of their health and defence and we get the benefit of these phytochemicals in the food we eat. When our soils are treated with a lot of nitrogen fertilisers, to make them grow faster, there is a reduction in levels of phytochemicals produced by the plants, which has the effect of making those plants more susceptible to disease and also less good for us. The lesson to be learned here is that we interfere with nature at our peril and what looks like an easy win ends up costing dearly in numerous ways.
 
Science today is starting to uncover the health benefits of phytochemicals and the evidence is hard to ignore. As well as being vital for plant health, many of these phytochemicals work as preventative medicine when they enter our bodies. There are about 50,000 different phytochemicals that have been identified so far, probably a third of the total number that exist. One of the most studied groups is polyphenols, some of which have been shown to reduce coronary heart disease through fat metabolism. Others retard tumour growth and reduce inflammation. Flavonoids, a subgroup of polyphenols, are abundant in green tea and dark chocolate and are known to have cancer and dementia preventing abilities. You will be likely to be healthier if you eat more of these essential natural chemicals. They don’t guarantee health but together with a good diet they help our bodies help themselves.
 
If it were that simple we would say ‘happy days’. We have always known that eating plenty off fresh fruit and vegetables is good for us, so what is the big reveal? The problem is that the food we grow is now so depleted in nutrients and natural chemicals because of our over use of fertilisers and our degradation of soil through bad farming practices, that we aren’t getting the full benefit of these essential phytochemicals, because they are not in the plants in the abundance they should be.

 So where is the hope? As humans we need hope and there are grounds for feeling positive. Whatever the issues one can always find people doing the right thing, striving for improvements. There is a regenerative farming movement which is starting to make a difference, farmers making the decision to farm in a better way. There is also a market garden resurgence in the UK, people with small holdings starting to grow vegetables and fruit from plants grown in better
soil.
 
And what can we do as consumers? We can support these trail blazing ventures. We can buy meat and dairy from regenerative farms. There are plenty online. If you buy cheaper cuts of meat the cost doesn’t differ that much from those of the supermarket. We can also buy seasonal vegetables directly from market gardeners online or from local farmers markets, of which there are plenty. It is more tricky in the winter but in the spring and summer there is no excuse.

The upside in taking these steps is that we are helping our bodies to be more healthy. There is much benefit as a result, to us directly, our families, our descendants and for society as a whole. Join the movement of conscious consumerism. It’s not about wokism it is about making us and our environment better. We have the power.