Dietary botanical diversity affects the reduction of oxidative biomarkers in women due to high vegetable and fruit intake

• Published in: The Journal of nutrition Vol. 136; no. 8; p. 2207
• Main Authors: Thompson, Henry J, Heimendinger, Jerianne, Diker, Ann, O'Neill, Caitlin, Haegele, Al, Meinecke, Becky, Wolfe, Pamela, Sedlacek, Scot, Zhu, Zongjian, Jiang, Weiqin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01-08-2006
• Subjects: Biomarkers - blood; Biomarkers - urine; Carotenoids - blood; Diet; Dinoprost - analogs & derivatives; Dinoprost - blood; Female; Fruit - classification; Humans; Lipid Peroxidation; Lymphocytes - metabolism; Middle Aged; Vasoconstrictor Agents - blood; Vegetables - classification
• ISSN: 0022-3166
• DOI: 10.1093/jn/136.8.2207

Many health benefits are associated with a high dietary intake of vegetables and fruit (VF); however, little effort has been expended to determine whether the botanical families from which high-VF diets are formulated affect their biological activities. The objective of this study was to determine whether the botanical diversity of high-VF diets alters the response in oxidative biomarkers for lipid peroxidation and DNA oxidation. Two diets were developed that varied in botanical diversity and provided 8-10 servings of VF/d. The high botanical diversity diet (HBD) included foods from the 18 botanical families that induced a reduction in oxidative damage of lipids or DNA. The low botanical diversity diet (LBD) emphasized 5 of these botanical families based on reports that their bioactive components had high antioxidant activity. A total of 106 women completed the study. Participants consumed 9.1 +/- 2.6 and 8.3 +/- 2.1 servings of VF/d with the LBD and HBD diets. Only the HBD diet induced a significant reduction in DNA oxidation (P < 0.05). Both the LBD and the HBD diets were associated with a reduction in lipid peroxidation (P < 0.01). These findings indicate that botanical diversity plays a role in determining the bioactivity of high-VF diets and that smaller amounts of many phytochemicals may have greater beneficial effects than larger amounts of fewer phytochemicals.