Phytochemicals, Hormones, Nutrition and Carbohydrates

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#1 Defend the statement in the controversy that foods, not supplements, are the best and safest source of phytochemicals.

The term phytochemicals refers to a wide variety of compounds made by plants. Some of these compounds protect plants against insects or perform other important functions. Some have either antioxidant or hormone-like actions both in plants and in the people who eat them. Because consuming vegetables and fruits reduces cancer risk, researchers are looking for specific compounds responsible for the helpful effects. At this time, no evidence has shown that phytochemicals taken as supplements are as good for you as the vegetables, fruits, beans, and grains from which they are extracted. Itt may be the combination of substances found in fresh vegetables and some fruits that conveys the benefit and that combination is not found in isolated supplements.

So photo-chemicals coming from the whole food source versus a supplement is the best and safest source of phytochemicals, unless your foods are high in pesticide or other chemicals. The risk of toxicity for some vitamins and minerals is real. Toxicity from food intake is almost unheard of, yet when someone takes several supplements, he/she may be getting too much of some. However, some enzymes (in whole foods) have been proven to be absorbed differently, such as bromeline and B vitamins (http://www.cancer.org/docroot/PED/content/PED_3_2X_Common_Questions_About_Diet_and_Cancer.asp).

#2 Describe how hormones affect nutrition?

Hormones affect nutrition, just as nutrition affects hormones. Different types of foods will actually cause different types of effects in the internal workings of the body; including the brain. Many of these changes or 'drug like effects' (hormones) have to do with the blood sugar level. For example, when it senses that there is not enough blood sugar (glucose), the body releases one of its own internal drugs (known as a hormone) which affects nutrition in that it does this to turn on the glucose creating internal mechanisms to restore the blood sugar to a more favorable level. When the body senses that the blood ...