Quotations by William W Li
While all of the tomato contains lycopene, the skin contains three to five times more lycopene than the flesh, so cooking your tomatoes with the skin on is the way to go for health. By cooking the tomato, the heat converts the lycopene structure from the trans structure to the cis structure, which in fact is readily absorbed by the body. Lycopene is fat-soluble, which means that it dissolves easily in oil. If you cook a tomato in olive oil, the amount of lycopene absorbed by your blood goes up threefold. Cherry tomatoes have 24 percent more lycopene than other types of tomatoes. [2019] - William W Li
Among the many types of kale, there’s one that is unusually delicious and available in late fall and winter markets in North America and Europe. It is called cavolo nero (black cabbage), or lacinato, Tuscan kale, or sometimes dinosaur kale. When buying kale, look for bunches with intact leaves and firm stems. Cut the leaves away from the inedible fibrous stem, then chop or shred the leaves, which then can be steamed, blanched, sautéed, used in soup or stew, or mixed into pasta or rice. Properly cooked, cavolo nero is very tender. It turns almost black, and it has a robust flavor with a mild, sweet aftertaste. [2019] - William W Li
Stone fruit are summer fruits known for sweet flesh bursting with juice, and a pit in the center, the stone. You’ll recognize them instantly: peaches, plums, nectarines, apricots, cherries, mango, and even lychee. Two studies from the U.S. National Cancer Institute and the University of Illinois at Chicago showed that consuming two medium-size stone fruits per day is associated with a 66 percent decreased risk of esophageal cancer and an 18 percent decreased risk of lung cancer in men. Plums have three times the amount of cancer-fighting polyphenols compared to peaches. [2019] - William W Li
Eating one to two apples per day was found to be associated with risk reduction of bladder cancer by 10 percent, colon cancer by 20 percent, and lung cancer by 18 percent. Of the 7,500 varieties of apples grown around the world, roughly one hundred are available in markets. Except for their taste and texture—firm, crispy, sweet, tart, bland—it’s hard to know how they differ from a health perspective. Research is now providing the answer. Of the varietals with the highest levels of defense boosting polyphenols, the top three are: Granny Smith, Red Delicious, and the Reinette (Little Queen). [2019] - William W Li
People eating one-fifth cup of berries of any type per day were found to have a 22% reduced risk of developing lung cancer. A special raspberry variant is the black raspberry. The dark color reflects its high bioactive concentrations. Blueberries have a dark blue coloration reflecting their antiangiogenic bioactive delphinidin. Strawberries are a great source of the bioactive known as ellagic acid, which has potent antiangiogenic activity. High levels of ellagic acid are found in three cultivars: Rubygem (originating in New Zealand), Camarosa (from the Ohio Valley), and Osmanli (from Turkey). Cranberries actually have low levels of ellagic acid. But what they do have are high levels of bioactive proanthocyanins, which also have anticancer and antiangiogenic effects. [2019] - William W Li
Top selections for seafood with antiangiogenic omega-3s - HIGHEST LEVEL (3–30 grams/100 gram of seafood): Hake, sea cucumber, manila clam, big eye tuna, yellowtail, sea bass, bluefin tuna, cockles, bottarga (roe of the gray mullet), caviar (sturgeon), fish roe (salmon). HIGH LEVEL (>0.5–2.44 grams/100 gram): salmon, red mullet, halibut, Pacific oysters, gray mullet, sardines, arctic char, bluefish, sea bream, Mediterranean sea bass, spiny lobster, anchovies, pompano, redfish, black bass, swordfish, John Dory, eastern oysters, squid, rainbow trout. MEDIUM LEVEL (>0.2–0.5 grams/100 gram): crab, mussels, striped mullet, octopus, scallops, cuttlefish, shrimp and prawns, whiting, dried cod (bacalao), striped bass, sole, Atlantic lobster. LOW LEVEL (<0.2 grams/100 gram): cod, grouper, brown shrimp, periwinkle, whelk, abalone, skate. Tilapia has a high unhealthy ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 PUFAs, making it a less desirable fish from a health perspective. [2019] - William W Li
One of the best studied bioactives in green tea is the polyphenol called EGCG (epigallocatechin-3-gallate). Green tea has sixteen times the level of EGCG compared to black tea. EGCG reduces harmful angiogenesis and cancer growth, lowers blood pressure, improves blood lipids, restores homeostasis of immune cells, and has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Green tea technically covers a wide range of beverages, from sencha to jasmine to oolong tea. Drinking two to three cups of green tea a day is associated with a 44% reduced risk of developing colon cancer. Chamomile tea is a popular herbal tea made with the dried petals of the chamomile flower. Chamomile contains bioactives like apigenin, caffeic acid, and chlorogenic acid that have antiangiogenic activity. [2019] - William W Li
When buying olive oil, always look for the extra virgin cold-pressed product. To find the oil with the highest levels of health-generating polyphenols, look carefully at the label and see if the type of olive used is identified. By choosing monovarietal olive oils, which are made with only one type of olive, you can choose a product made from olives best for health: Koroneiki (from Greece), Moraiolo (from Italy), and Picual (from Spain). The oils from these olives have great flavor profiles that work well for cooking, salad dressings, or mopping up with bread. There is no cancer-risk-reducing benefit seen with seed oils. [2019] - William W Li
Not only do stem cells keep you youthful, they can also regenerate tissues damaged by aging. While it may seem counterintuitive that eating chocolate could lower the risks of having coronary artery disease, chocolate is a stem cell–recruiting food. Cocoa powder contains bioactives called flavanols. Epidemiologists have long established a connection between the consumption of foods with flavanols and lower incidence of death from cardiovascular disease. [2019] - William W Li
One important caution about brown rice: some fields where it is harvested have high levels of arsenic. Brown rice has more of the exposed shell of the rice, so it can contain 80 percent more arsenic than white rice. According to a study by Consumer Reports, the safest sources of brown rice are California, India, and Pakistan, which has about a third less arsenic than brown rice from other sources. [2019] - William W Li
Resveratrol is a bioactive well known to be in grapes, red wine, and grape juice. But resveratrol is also present in blueberries, cranberries, peanuts, and even pistachios, as well. In nature, resveratrol acts as a natural fungicide to fight fungi that could destroy the plant. So this is a bioactive that is first and foremost part of a plant’s health defense system. The practical challenge with resveratrol is that it is present only in small amounts in red wine and most foods. Because of this, resveratrol may be one of the few exceptions where the bioactive may be better obtained through a concentrated supplement rather than the actual food. [2019] - William W Li
Genistein is found in soy. Luteolin occurs in celery, oregano, and thyme. Quercetin is found in capers, apples, and peppers. All three of these compounds kill prostate cancer stem cells. Luteolin is especially potent and can shut down the activity of prostate cancer stem cells twentyfold. The bioactive of green tea, EGCG, has also been shown to work together with the bioactive quercetin to inhibit prostate cancer stem cells, as well. [2019] - William W Li
The ketogenic diet involves eating a high-fat, very low-carbohydrate diet that mimics fasting for the purpose of generating ketones in the body. Ketones are created from fat stored in the body when carbohydrates are not available for metabolism to make glucose. The ketones are used as an energy source by cells in place of glucose. While normal healthy cells can adapt to use ketones as an energy source, cancer cells cannot adapt the same way because they rely on glucose to keep up with their high energy demands. When glucose is low, tumors have difficulty growing. Ketones also interfere with the ability of cancer cells to obtain energy, making tumors more likely to respond to treatment when the patient is adopting a ketogenic diet. [2019] - William W Li
Caring for Your Microbiome - First principle: eat lots of dietary fiber from whole food. Second principle: eat less animal protein. Third principle: eat more fresh, whole foods, and less processed food. [2019] - William W Li
Eating kiwifruit has prebiotic effects that shape beneficial gut bacteria and lower inflammation. [2019] - William W Li
Throughout Asia, the shoots of bamboo plants are a popular vegetarian dish that is extremely high in dietary fiber and bioactives. Fresh, raw bamboo shoots harvested from the forest contain small amounts of a toxin related to cyanide. Cooking the shoots by boiling for 10–15 minutes removes most of the toxin. Don’t go foraging in the jungle to find and eat raw bamboo. [2019] - William W Li
Cacao can boost good bacteria while controlling bad bacteria, and it may even help correct disruptions to the microbiome caused by chronic stress. For stressed-out individuals, eating dark chocolate for only two weeks can influence gut bacteria and reduce stress markers in the body. [2019] - William W Li
Shiitake mushrooms may be able to reverse the changes to the microbiome that typically accompany old age. Lion’s mane could decrease the symptoms and the proteins associated with gut inflammation by as much as 40%. The mushroom increased the healthy bacteria Akkermansia while decreasing the harmful sulfur toxin-producing Desulfovibrio. [2019] - William W Li
An artificial sweetener could cause dysbiosis. The potential consequences may influence how the gut bacteria control blood sugar metabolism and weight gain. The artificial sweeteners that are currently approved for human consumption are: saccharin, aspartame, sucralose, acesulfame, and neotame. Avoid Artificial Sweeteners. [2019] - William W Li
The next time you go to the beach, consider drinking a shot of tomato, watermelon, pink grapefruit, or guava juice before heading out. It will protect you against sun damage. The red-orange color of these fruits comes from lycopene, which, among other benefits you’ve seen in earlier chapters, protects DNA from the ionizing radiation damage from the sun. Also think about having a shot of tomato or watermelon juice before going to the dentist, who may take an X-ray of your teeth, or before getting on an airplane, where a dose of radiation during the flight will be unavoidable. Lycopene is also protective against DNA damage caused by Helicobacter pylori infection. [2019] - William W Li