It has been estimated that one-third of all cancer deaths in the United States could be prevented through appropriate dietary modification, especially by enriching diets with fruits and vegetables, because various dietary antioxidants have shown considerable promise as cancer-preventing agents.
Antioxidant vitamins including vitamin A, carotenoids, vitamin C and vitamin E, potentiate the antioxidant status and reduce lipid oxidation.
Besides the vitamin antioxidants, fruits and vegetables also contain non-nutrient antioxidant such as the flavonoids, polyphenols, and terpenes.
People who eat the highest amount of fruits and vegetables have a 20% lower risk for coronary heart disease, and the lowest risk were seen in people who ate more fruits rich in polyphenolic compounds and vitamins.
Red, blue, and purple fruits (such as apple, blackberry, blueberry, blood orange, cranberry, grape, nectarine, peach, plum, prune, pomegranate, raspberry, and strawberry) are good sources of flavonoids and other phenolic compounds that are positively correlated with antioxidant capacity of the fruit.
Orange-flesh fruits (such as apricot, cantaloupe, mango, nectarine, orange, papaya, peach, persimmon and pineapple) and some red flesh fruits (such as tomato, watermelon and pink grapefruit) are good sources of carotenoids.
Lycopene, an antioxidant available in tomatoes, has a low availability in tomato juice, but cooking tomatoes in an oil-based medium substantially enhances intestinal absorption.
Antioxidants in fruit
