VEGGIE VS VEGGIE Rating Rutabagas NOT ALL VEGETAB LES ARE CREATED EQUAL BY BONNIE LIEBMAN & JAYNE HURLEY It’s tough to rank vegetables. No one wants to think poorly of, say, a turnip or a cucumber. They’re like an Olympic athlete who finishes last in the 100-meter dash. Not the world’s best perhaps, but not too shabby either. But rankings matter. They might lead you to pick spinach salad over Caesar, or broccoli over green beans for lunch. Or you might go with sweet potatoes instead of white potatoes, peas instead of corn, and carrots There is some—albeit inconsistent— over celery at dinner. evidence that tomatoes, a lycopene-rich vegetable, may protect against prostate Here’s our ranking of good to great veggies...and the top ten reasons why cancer, and far less evidence (mostly from test-tube studies) that the sulforaphane you should try them all. in broccoli and other cruciferous veg- etables may keep breast and colon cancer The information for this article was compiled by Melissa Pryputniewicz. at bay. Vegetables may also lower the risk of stomach cancer (which is uncommon 1. Calories 42,000 men for eight years, those who in the United States), esophageal cancer averaged five or six servings of vegetables (only the kind that’s common in heavy Most vegetables have 10 to 50 calories per a day had an 18 percent lower risk of drinkers), and cancers of the mouth, serving. In today’s world of 600-calorie heart disease than those who typically pharynx, and larynx (chiefly in smokers). French fries or loaded baked potatoes, ate only one or two servings a day.1 Just don’t expect veggies to be a general those numbers barely register on the Maybe that’s because healthier people cancer shield. radar screen. Even the exceptions—like eat more vegetables. But it’s also possible sweet potatoes, lima beans, and avoca- that potassium, carotenoids, or some- 6. Potassium dos—hover around just 100 calories. thing else in kale or spinach or other Potassium helps lower blood pressure and And vegetables are water-rich, so they veggies makes a difference. have few calories per bite. That may keep the risk of stroke. It may also boost bone you feeling full without filling up your fat 4. Stroke density. cells. Granted, many people bump up the It isn’t easy to reach the latest daily In a meta-analysis of eight studies that calories by dousing their broccoli or car- target for potassium, which was recently tracked more than 235,000 men and wom- rots or zucchini in butter, oil, sugar, salad ratcheted up to 4,700 milligrams. Only en for an average of 13 years, those who ate dressing, or cheese. But you can’t blame a handful of vegetables—like broccoli, more than five servings of vegetables a day the veggies for that. spinach, Swiss chard, potatoes, and sweet had a 7 percent lower risk of stroke than potatoes—have even roughly 10 percent 2. Vitamins those who ate less than three servings.2 of a day’s worth. But that’s also true for That’s not surprising, since high blood fruit, milk, yogurt, whole grains, chicken, Most vegetables are packed with vitamins, pressure is the strongest risk factor for fish, and other sources. The much-praised minerals, and phytochemicals. Some stroke, and a healthy diet rich in vegetables banana, for example, has just 10 percent. nutrients—like vitamin K and lutein— (as well as fruits and low-fat dairy) lowered are hard to find elsewhere. Others—like blood pressure in the Dietary Approaches 7. Lutein potassium, iron, folate, calcium, and to Stop Hypertension (DASH) study.3 If it’s green, odds are it has lutein. Lutein vitamin C—are in many other foods, but Whether it’s the potassium or other nu- and its cousin zeaxanthin are the key some people still get too little of them. trients in veggies that matters is unclear. Granted, some vegetables (like leafy carotenoids in the lens of the eye. And greens) tower over their less-nutritious 5. Cancer people who consume more lutein-rich cousins (like mushrooms and eggplant). foods have a lower risk of cataracts in In recent years, the evidence that vegeta- But even the less-stellar vegetables have many studies, though it would take more bles can lower the risk of cancer has lost some nutrients going for them. evidence to determine whether lutein was traction. For example, in a study that ex- responsible.5 3. Heart Disease amined the diets of nearly 72,000 female The retina is also rich in lutein, lead- nurses and nearly 38,000 male health pro- ing some researchers to suspect that the Olga Lyubkina/fotolia.com. People who eat more vegetables have a fessionals for 12 years, those who ate more pigment can curb the risk of macular lower risk of heart disease. In a study vegetables were less likely to be diagnosed degeneration, which is the most common Photo: © that tracked roughly 84,000 women and with heart disease, but not cancer.4 > > > > > NUTRITION ACTION HEALTHLETTER ■ JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2009 13 VEGGIE VS VEGGIE cause of blindness in older people. A large RANKINGS trial, the Age-Related Eye Disease Study 2 RANKINGS (AREDS2), is now testing lutein supple- Superstars Love ’em ments (along with vitamins and fish oil) (Score = 150+) on macular degeneration. Not Exactly Anyway (Score = 0-49) 8. Vitamin K Chopped Liver (Score = 50-149) Green leafy vegetables—like kale, spin- ach, and collards—are the places to get vitamin K, which is best known for its role in blood clotting. (That’s why people who Kale, spinach, collards, and take Coumadin or other blood thinners other leafy greens are in a Okay, so they’re not brim- have to keep their vitamin K intake stable.) class of their own. But broc- ming with vitamins. But In recent years, researchers had suspect- coli, carrots, sweet potatoes, The midrange group there’s some preliminary evi- ed that vitamin K could also boost bone bell peppers, and most salad typically gets points from dence that allium vegetables density. But several trials have come up vitamin C, vitamin K, lutein, like onions and garlic may empty.6 One did have an unexpected re- greens are also top-notch. and beta-carotene. But you lower cancer risk. And who sult, however. Men (but not women) who They get such high scores can also get a nice dose of were given vitamin K (500 micrograms a largely because they’re rich knows? Maybe radishes or day) were less likely to become insulin- in lutein and beta-carotene, fiber from arti chokes, avo- mushrooms or cucumbers 7 resistant over three years. But it would which is visible in their green cado, green beans, and lima harbor some undiscovered take more research to know if vitamin K or orange color. But leafy beans. And asparagus, cauli- phytochemical that can pre- can keep the body sensitive to insulin greens also supply vitamin K flower, celery, and okra pour vent or cure Alzheimer’s or and fend off diabetes. and some of just about ev- on the folate. arthritis or wrinkles. Bottom 9. Pesticides erything else (calcium, fiber, line: as long as they taste so folate, iron, and vitamin C). good, who cares? Okay, pesticides aren’t a reason to eat vegetables…but they’re no reason to avoid them either. You could try to sidestep all pesticides The Okra Show by going organic. Or you could just buy organic for vegetables that are most likely We calculated a score for each vegetable by adding up its percentage of: (1) the Dietary to have pesticides. According to data Reference Intake (DRI) for six nutrients, (2) the Daily Value (DV) for fiber, and (3) the daily tar- from the Environmental Working Group gets that we’ve devised for lutein and carotenoids other than lutein. For example, half a cup (foodnews.org), those include sweet bell peppers, celery, spinach, lettuce, and of cooked broccoli has 31 percent of our target for lutein and 26 percent of our target for potatoes. Among the cleanest: onions, other carotenoids, 11 percent of the DV for fiber, plus 100 percent of the DRI for vitamin K, avocado, frozen sweet corn, asparagus, 61 percent for vitamin C, 23 percent for folate (folic acid), 5 percent for potassium, and itestro). frozen sweet peas, cabbage, and broccoli. 3 percent each for calcium and iron. That gives it a score of 263 points. (See Nutrition Action, Jul./Aug. 2007, p. 5.) Calcium, iron, and folate were part of the score but don’t appear in our chart. Ditto for caro- 10. Taste tenoids other than lutein, which include alpha-carotene, beta-carotene, and lycopene. We Vegetables got a bad rap somewhere in the included lutein in the chart because of growing evidence that it may help prevent cataracts. Baloncici: onions © middle of the 20th century. Maybe it was There is no DRI for lutein, so we set our own (3,000 micrograms) by examining studies on those canned peas-and-carrots mixtures cataracts. (The DRIs—daily targets set by the Institute of Medicine—vary slightly by age and or that overcooked asparagus. Or per- gender. We picked the highest level for adults, excluding pregnant and lactating women.) haps it was those side salads—chunks of wilted iceberg lettuce plus a wedge or two of pulpy tomato smothered in Day-Glo Contains 100% or more of the Contains 10%-19% of the DRI Olga Solovei: cauliflower © Dietary Reference Intake (DRI) orange French or pink Thousand Island.