Phytonutrients are powerful and vital nutrients found in plant foods, particularly fruit and vegetables. Research has demonstrated that obtaining adequate amounts of these nutrients on a daily level is vital to achieving long-term health and longevity.

Nature’s foods are often colour-coded to represent the nutrients that are contained within them. For instance red fruits and vegetables such as tomatoes, red capsicum, cherries and raspberries contain powerful nutrients such as resveratrol, lycopene and quecertin. Resveratrol has been shown to activate a “longevity gene” that appears to have a significant effect on life span. It also appears to block cancer-promoting genes and protect against heart and blood vessel disease.

Green vegetables such as parsley, lettuce, arugula and lettuce contain other important phytonutrients such as indole-3-carbinol (which has powerful effects in preventing breast and prostate cancer), zeazanthin (which is important for maintaining eye health and preventing macular degeneration), thiocyanates and more. They also contain the important nutrient chlorophyll, which is responsible for the green colour of these foods which are also loaded with minerals.

Orange foods such as carrots, oranges and squash contain an important class of nutrients called carotenoids. They include beta-carotene, which is a precursor of vitamin A. Blue foods include anthocyanins and are found in blueberries and blue-green algae.

Each of these colour groups also represents one of the chakras, or energy centres of the body.

Getting a good spread from the various colour groups throughout the day ensures that you have a good selection of phytonutrients to boost your system throughout the day. The standard two serves of fruit and five serves of vegetables a day probably can be seen as an absolute minimum. Importantly, the majority of phytonutrients are degraded to some extent by cooking the food. With some foods, the loss can be up to 80%. Although there are rare exceptions, such as lycopene, which seems higher in tomato sauce than fresh tomatoes.

In general, eat most vegetables in the raw state. These foods are highest in water content, minerals, enzymes and electrical energy. A great way to start the day is by getting a phytonutrient rich smoothie or shake, rather than the standard we stern practice of eating grains and sugars first thing up. Adding a vegetable juice through the day, is another huge boost. Adding “superfoods” such as berries, maca or spirulina take us even further towards reaching a level of super nutrition capable of turning around any chronic health complaint.

Dr Sandeep Gupta is a general practitioner with a special interest in dietary and preventative medicine. www.drsandeepgupta.com

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