Rainbow Food for Health

Good nutrition, can be achieved through a variety of food consumption. Why should vary? Because no one single food that contains all the elements are complete and adequate nutrition, except breast milk for the newborn until the age of 6 months.

Good nutritional status, he continued, can only be achieved through food consumption 3B, namely Diverse, nutritious, and balanced. "Consumption of food must be removed in order to have the effect of various complementation and synergy among nutrients," said Prof.Made Astawan, from the Department of Food Science Technology, Bogor Agricultural University.

National Cancer Institute recommends that we consume five food groups every day in color, namely red, white, blue / purple, yellow and green. "Every food color indicates the presence of certain phytochemicals are efficacious for the prevention of disease," said Made.

Fruits and vegetables naturally contain phytochemical compounds such as carotenoids, phytosterol, saponin, glucosinolate, sulfide, polyphenols, phytic acid, and so forth. The content of these phytochemicals have various physiological functions, such as anticancer, antimicrobial, antioxidant, antiinflammatory, immunomodulatory, and Ian forth.

Red color in tomatoes and watermelon, for example, contain the phytochemical lycopene which has the effect of preventing heart disease and prostate cancer. Meanwhile, blue or purple color found in fruits of grapes, beets, purple cabbage, strawberries, have the effect of preventing blood clots and Alzheimer's disease.

However, consumption of fruit and vegetables in large quantities is difficult because the large volume while the limited capacity of our stomachs. Enlarge Untum received power and increase intake of gastric substances that are contained in fruits and vegetables, Made recommends that we treat as a fruit and vegetable juices.