水果和蔬菜为什么很重要

Eating a diet rich in fruits and vegetables is important for good health. Find out why experts say Mother Nature's bounty packs better nutrients than supplements.
富含水果和蔬菜的饮食对身体健康很重要。已经发现为什么专家说大自然的丰富赠品比营养补充剂更有营养。

If we are what we eat, then many of us must be tripping all over the place due to a lack of balance. That's because the average American eats about three servings of fruits and vegetables per day — a stark contrast to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) new guidelines stating that we should be eating 5 to 13 servings of nature's best, depending on the number of calories you need.
如果我们吃什么是什么，那么许多人肯定会到处被绊倒，因为缺乏平衡。那是因为美国人平均每天吃三份水果和蔬菜——这跟卫生福利部和美国农业部新指导方针表明的我们每天应该根据所需的热量吃5—13份天然的最佳食物。

So if we want to grow to be strong like Popeye, why can't we just down some supplements instead of devouring a pile of spinach?
所以，如果我们希望长得跟大力水手一样强壮的话，为什么不吃一些营养补充品来代替吞食一堆菠菜呢？

Nutrients in fresh fruits and vegetables work together. Kristine Wallerius Cuthrell, MPH, RD, a research nutritionist and senior project coordinator for Hawaii Foods at the Center on the Family at University of Hawaii at Manoa, says that in the past five to 10 years, many large research studies have found that vitamin supplements don't provide the benefits that foods do. The 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, created jointly between HHS and USDA and reviewed every five years, say that foods are the best sources of nutrients because they contain naturally occurring ingredients, like carotenoids and flavonoids.
新鲜水果和蔬菜里的营养成分一起发挥作用。公共卫生硕士，注册营养师Kristine Wallerius Cuthrell是夏威夷马诺大学以家庭为中心夏威夷食品的一名研究营养学家和高级项目协调者，他称，过去5到10年里，许多大型研究已经发现维生素营养补充品不能提供和食物一样的营养。2005年，卫生福利部和美国农业部共同建立并每五年进行审查的美国人饮食指南指出，食物是最好的营养来源，因为他们含有天然成分，如类胡萝卜素和黄酮类。

"In addition to the substances we are aware of, there are many present in fruits and vegetables that have yet to be discovered. Food and the nutrients they contain aren't consumed singly, but with each other. As such, they may act in synergistic ways to promote health," Cuthrell says. For instance, eating iron-rich plants, like spinach, and the vitamin C in orange juice, is great for people who don’t get enough iron (typically young women).
“除了我们知道的物质外，水果和蔬菜里面还含有许多没被发现的物质。食物和所含的养分并不是单独消耗掉，而且互相吸收。同样地，它们以互相协作的方式促进了健康。”Cuthrell说。例如，吃富含铁的植物，如菠菜和橙汁里所含的维生素C，对于缺铁的人来说是非常有用的（尤其是年轻女性）。