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Cauliflower is a vegetable that may be liked by few but is known for containing nutrients that fight against several diseases.

There are two main ingredients in cauliflower that are the main ingredients for fighting disease. These are indole-3-carbinol, or 13C, and the photo nutrient sulforaphane. In resent research, sulforaphane was shown to lower the occurrence of breast tumors in lab animals by almost 40%.

Cauliflower also contains vitamin C and folate. Folate helps the blood work more efficiently and is often recommended for preventing anemia. Folate is also essential for proper tissue growth and not getting enough can make you susceptible to many diseases down the road such as cancer and heart disease. Vitamin C is considered an antioxidant. When used alongside other antioxidants such as vitamin E and beta-carotene, your body’s immune system will stay strong.

Eating three florets of cauliflower a day will provide 67% of your daily vitamin C requirement. When purchasing cauliflower, make sure the tops are white. If the floret has begun to spot brown or purple, it is not as nutritionally beneficial. Eating cauliflower raw will give you the highest nutritional benefits, however, if you must cook it, lightly steaming it will keep its nutritional value high.

Tagged with: cauliflower • Folate • indole-3-carbinol • sulforaphane • vitamin C

Just like apples, Asian pears are juicy, crunchy, with an almost buttery, grainy texture which melts in the mouth when you eat it. This is the second item in our list for the fruits which are dubbed as the new ’superfruits’ due to their rich antioxidant content.

If your tastebuds are tired munching on the all-too-familiar flavor of the apples in your dinner table, why not substitute it with Asian pears? These antioxidant-rich fruit has almost twice as much as the dietary fiber content of a large apple, and is also rich in vitamins C and K. Dietary fibers are great for lowering your cholesterol level. 

For those who are on a weight loss program, Asian pears help speed up your goal of shedding off those excess pounds. Since they are high in dietary fibers, Asian pears help curb those unnecessary cravings, making you feel full for a longer amount of time.

Finally, Asian pears help promote colon and cardiovascular health, it is a hypo-allergenic fruit and it helps prevent macular degeneration.

Chopped, fresh Asian pears can be combined with your favorite green salads, added onto your breakfast cereal or served with goat cheese for a sumptuous dessert.

Tagged with: Antioxidants • Asian pears • Health Articles • Health Food • vitamin C

You can improve your health and boost your healing power by adding fresh pineapple and pineapple juice to your diet. Pineapples are nutritionally packed fruit. They are high in the enzyme bromelain and vitamin C, both of which play a major role in the body’s healing process.

Bromelain is a natural anti-inflammatory and has analgesic properties and helps with healing. Bromelain is great for treating bruises, sprains and strains by reducing swelling, tenderness and pain. The anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties can also help with osteo- and rheumatoid arthritis symptoms and reduce swelling after surgery. The bromelain in pineapples can help with good digestion.

Pineapples are rich in vitamin C, which is an antioxidant that protects the body from free radical damage and boosts the immune system. Vitamin C helps build and repair bodily tissue and promotes wound healing. The body uses vitamin C to help metabolize fats and cholesterol, helps with iron absorption, and synthesizes amino acids and collagen.

Vitamin C also increases the body’s ability to fight invading bacteria and other toxins that contribute to oral disease. Pineapples help reduce periodontal disease, which has been linked to heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes.

The best way to get the beneficial effects of pineapple is to eat the fresh fruit because most of the bromelain in canned pineapple is destroyed due to the heat used in the canning process.

Ask your doctor if pineapple is a good addition for your diet.

Tagged with: analgesic • anti-inflammatory • antioxidant • pineapple • vitamin C

The skin is the body’s largest organ. It can also be a problem area.

The skin and its care is one of the biggest concerns of people as they age. Vitamin C is used in skin care to help prevent premature aging and damage from the suns rays.
The antioxidant properties of Vitamin C allows it to bond with and remove damaging radicals in the skin from pollution, cigarette smoke and other sources. Vitamin C is also a necessary part of the body’s production of collagen which is the fiber that makes tissues retain elasticity. So the use of Vitamin C in a daily skin care helps make skin look full and firm.

Vitamins are absorbed through the skin in creams and lotions, particularly Vitamins A and D. Vitamin C can be absorbed by the skin but the best form is L-ascorbic acid. This product breaks down very easily especially in sunlight giving it a short shelf life. Only buy small amounts in dark colored or brown bottles and keep it in a dark storage place.

This anti-aging treatment works by being absorbed into the skin and promoting the production of collagen. It also works as an antioxidant by neutralizing free radicals in the body. Because of its absorption properties of this form of Vitamin C, it will not wash away but remain in the skin.

Tagged with: antioxidant • skin care • vitamin C • Vitamins A and D

The answer to this question depends on the type of food.

One example is a drink product that claims to have Vitamin C in it. The manufacturer of this drink has to put an extra amount of that vitamin in the product because some of the vitamins will deteriorate over a period of time. This depends on the temperature of the storage of the product. The higher the temperature or the longer the storage time, the more of the vitamin will end up deteriorating.

Vitamin C happens to be one of the most sensitive vitamins. If the product is to contain 100% of vitamin C at the end of the shelf life, then the manufacturer may have to put in 200% to begin with because they know that 2 years later it will have lost half of its value.

Fats can also oxidize. If you have ever had a bag of cake flour on your shelf in your kitchen and two or three years later it is full of weevils and you smell it and it has an awful smell, it is usually because the fat that is present in the flour has oxidized.

The moral of the story, it is always best to use your food in a timely manner and check expiration dates to make sure to get the most nutritional value from it.

Tagged with: expiration dates • sensitive vitamins • vitamin C • vitamins will deteriorate

No matter what time of the year it is, oranges seem to always be in season. These vitamin-C rich fruits are a great source of vitamins A and B, as well as folate, potassium and calcium.

Here’s a detailed list of the nutrients that you can get from oranges. First, it provides you with more than 100% of the recommended daily value of vitamin C that your body needs. Vitamin C plays a big role in everybody’s health because it has antioxidants which help boost the immune system. The simple act going out or traveling to and from work will expose you to the common cold and without a good dose of vitamin C, it will be easier for you to catch this and other diseases.

Orange also assists in lowering your cholesterol level, the folic acid that it contains helps in brain development, it prevents kidney stones, it is great for ulcer, it promotes respiratory health – the list of the health benefits of this citrus fruit is practically endless!

As a final note, it is better to skip those vitamin C-fortified juice drinks and go for the freshly squeezed orange juice or better yet, enjoy the citrus-y flavor of the real fruit.

Tagged with: citrus fruits • Health Articles • Health Food • orange • orange juice • vitamin C