The amounts of health promoting compounds in fruit and vegetable products vary so much that the possible beneficial health effects from these products is far from optimal.
Simulations done by researchers at Wageningen University predict about a 45% reduction in the risk of colon cancer (2700 cases per year in the Netherlands) if the entire food production chain can see to it that the average quality of healthy substances in fruit and vegetable products increases by a factor of 3.
Furthermore, the same products also have to vary much less with regard to the amount of health beneficial substances than the more than hundredfold differences which are currently found among products.
The health benefit seems realisable through the selection of fruit and vegetable varieties, the optimisation of industrial and domestic treatments and the provision of good consumer information, according to the researchers Matthijs Dekker an Ruud Verkerk from the Product Design and Quality Management Group at Wageningen University, The Netherlands.
The Wageningen researchers analysed the entire production chain--from "farm to fork" --of both fresh vegetables and fruits as well as processed products such as juices and ready-to-eat meals. In their research, Dekker and Verkerk have mapped out what happens to levels of important health promoting components such as glucosinolates.
According to the researchers, the breeding, cultivation, storage and processing of fruits and vegetables have always been aimed at maximizing production, minimizing loss from spoilage, and maintaining an attractive appearance of the fruits and vegetables for the consumer. Fruits and vegetables, however, contain important components for human health such as vitamins and minerals. In the last years, it has also become clear that more plant substances, so called phytochemicals, such as flavonoids, carotenoids, and glucosinolates play an important protective role against all kinds of diseases related to ageing, such as cancer, and cardiovascular diseases.