Bioactive Compounds: Why Food Is Complex
Food is complex. No, I don’t mean it is difficult to understand. I mean that food itself is complex.
Sure, there is the obvious. Foods that contain protein or fat, for example.
But food is complex because it contains a multitude of bioactive compounds.
So what are bioactive compounds?
They are chemicals that can have both a positive or negative effect when consumed.
Polyphenols, terpenoids, alkaloids, triterpene or peptides, to name a few. They come in plant food and meats. They come with your coffee and are found in your fish.
So why do we care?
Let us look at polyphenols. Chlorogenic acid found in blueberry and raspberry, for example
Polyphenols have a signalling effect within your body. They boost brain function and prevent neurodegenerative disorders. They lower blood pressure and prevent heart disease.
They protect the sun from the harmful effects of ultraviolet rays. They stabilize blood sugar and reduce the storage of fat. They are anti-inflammatory and reduce the risk of cancer.
Though berries are without question among the best things you can eat, all of these benefits do not come from berries.
They come from eating diversity. They come from eating natural.
I have always been an advocate of natural, whole foods. I do not like supplements. I do not like artificial.
Sure, it is easy to run a study that tells you the magical benefits of a specific compound.
The reason the study looked at a compound, was because it is close to impossible to look at all the bioactive ingredients in any one food.
The study would cost too much.There would be no way to determine which bioactive ingredient gave us the results.
So we isolate compounds in a study and then look at the benefits. But you and I do not care about studies.
We care about our health.
Good health comes from eating a variety of whole foods, naturally grown, that contains lots and lots of bioactive compounds.
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