“Eat your veggies!” "Yes, mom, but which one -- broccoli, asparagus, green beans, carrots, or (yuck) brussel sprouts?"
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says that none of those are even in the Top 10 when it comes to the foods that can reduce chronic disease risk the best. None.
In a new study, the agency went behind the leaf of 47 fruits and vegetables and found that – despite traditional thinking that any veggie or fruit is good – not all meet the prevention mark they wanted to hit.
The CDC calls these “powerhouse” foods – foods that have a lot of good stuff for your body, like vitamins and minerals, but they don't have a lot of calories.
If you’re trying to lose weight or eat more of what can benefit you the most – or looking for vegetables and fruits that could also double as part of the MIND diet – here’s some data you can use to reframe your eating habits.
The losers
At the bottom of the list were some surprises like oranges and grapefruits and these 8 others:
The okay, but not great
In the middle were 14 fruits and vegetables that you probably think would actually have a higher score.
The big winners
The vegetable/fruit that hit a walk-off homer was something you’ve probably never bought – watercress.
Watercress falls into the same category – cruciferous vegetables – that broccoli, kale, Chinese cabbage, arugula, and Brussels sprouts do.
Nutritionists love watercress for the amount of energy — or calories — its nutrient density provides.
“A nutrient density score is essentially a numeric value given to rate how nutritious certain foods are,” says Dana Ellis Hunnes, Ph.D., a senior dietitian at UCLA Medical Center and assistant professor at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health.
Hunnes adds that the more nutrient-dense a food is, the more vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants it has per calorie per gram,
Watercress has another secret. It contains diindolylmethane (DIM) and sulforaphane, two compounds which researchers have linked to a lower risk of cancer. Then, there’s vitamin K, an unheralded superhero of sorts which helps your blood clot properly when you get a cut, keeps your bones Schwarzenegger-strong, and some studies go as far as concluding that vitamin K could help you stay sharp and your arteries clean.
The only thing that watercress possibly fails in is fiber. While it contains fiber, it only has about a fifth of what a cup of cooked broccoli has.
So, is there a pill or drink that gives you all of the good stuff?
Short of setting up a tent in the produce aisle at Whole Foods, how can someone get the best of these foods in the easiest fashion possible?
There’s not a single pill, but you could probably find a dozen different ones and take all of those. When it comes to powders, a lot of protein mixes load themselves up with bits and pieces of most of these, but to what degree?
Then, there’s V8. When William Gilbert Peacock concocted V8 juice back in 1933, his idea was to give people an easy, drinkable way to get the benefits of vegetables in their diet. Building on a base of tomato juice, Peacock added in seven other vegetables that he thought would accomplish his goal and, given the CDC’s study, he was pretty close.
Of its seven vegetables, V8 has five that are in the Top 10. The only misses are carrots – still in the mid-range – and celery, which either didn’t make the grade or wasn’t studied.