In a world that increasingly speaks of sustainability, even those involved in nutrition are called to deal with this increasingly pressing issue. In the food sector, even more than in other areas, being sustainable is closely linked to the daily choices that each of us is called, more or less unconsciously, to make. And this does not simply concern the issues related to the origin, the cultivation techniques, the packaging of the food we buy; rather the fact that through the foods we consume we have the possibility of pushing our body towards a state of health or to let it slide inexorably towards a condition of disease.
In fact, not everyone knows that in the face of an ever longer life expectancy at birth does not correspond to an equally long life expectancy in good health. In other words, statistics show us that in Europe people spend about the last quarter of their lives suffering from some chronic disease, a factor that determines enormous costs for health systems.
Doing everything to keep ourselves healthy for as long as possible is something closely linked to the concept of sustainability, it is a responsibility we also have towards the society that surrounds us, because maintaining one's health avoids placing the burden of care on the community that will be needed. The only way we can do that is through the adoption of a healthy lifestyle, which consists of at least three main aspects: an aspect feed (how I eat), a look motor (which and how much physical activity I do) and an aspect Commitment, or rather the intensity and richness of the human relationships that I manage to weave.
In foods, the prevention of many chronic diseases
Today, the science of nutrition has demonstrated that a healthy diet is not just a question of quantity, a dry calculation of calories as was the case decades ago, but also a question of quality: the foods we consume can seriously contribute to the prevention of numerous chronic and degenerative pathologies like those cardiovascular and can help reduce the risk of neurodegenerative diseases and some types of cancer.
Beyond the classic and always current guidelines for a healthy diet, some foods have an edge thanks to the natural content of particular substances responsible for a protective effect on human health. THE nutraceuticals, molecules produced mainly from plant foods, functional to the health of the plant itself, confer resistance to infections, parasites or particular and unfavorable environmental conditions, but once taken in the form of food they also exert their positive action in the human body.
The mechanism by which this occurs is very fascinating and, although many of these nutraceuticals also act as antioxidants, their main action is different: in fact, they act by modulating the response of our cells and thus making them more resistant to stress, a training to defend oneself better thanks to the activation of the expression of specific genes.
It is important to consume vegetables characterized by different colors
These concepts have been known in the scientific field for several years now, but remain difficult to communicate to the general public, despite the efforts of bodies and organizations such as the WHO and the Ministry of Health which have repeatedly called attention to the need to consume vegetables characterized from different colors. The color groups, in fact, contain vegetables, often very different from each other, however united by containing the same class of nutraceutical compounds.
Violet, characteristic of blueberries and blackberries but also of figs or aubergines, represents the class of anthocyanins, particularly studied for their protective action at the level of vascular microcirculation.
Il red instead it is typical of watermelons and tomatoes, studied for their lycopene content, a particular carotenoid known for the preventive action of some forms of cancer.
Il yellow / orange of pumpkins, apricots, carrots and melons recalls the content of provitamin carotenoids, precursors of vitamin A and involved in protection from ultraviolet rays.
Il White is the color of garlic, onions and leeks, which contain allyl sulphides responsible for a certain bacteriostatic action and capable of reducing blood pressure.
Last, but not least, the Verde, which unites a multitude of vegetables including for example the family of cabbage and broccoli containing glucosinolates, compounds which, once transformed by our body, confer protection both to cardiovascular and neuronal level.
Given the specificity of the action of each class of compounds, it would be necessary to consume a certain amount of vegetables from each color group on a daily basis: a total of 5 servings a day (about 400 grams) of different colors, better if fresh and raw.
It is clear that this will not be enough to ensure a healthy life, but it would certainly be an important step towards greater awareness of the potential that what we eat can help reduce the risk of developing some of those chronic diseases that afflict part of the world's population .
