"Apples and Orange ietary Diversity" When it comes to fruits and vegetables, it's not only quality and quantity, but also variety. We know, for example, spinach is healthier than lettuce. And a big salad is better than small. But is it better to get the spring-greens mesclun mix than even the straight spinach? Is it healthier to eat one apple and one orange than it is to eat three apples or three oranges? An interesting pair of studies was recently released that looked at disease risk and the variety of fruit and vegetable consumption. I think we're use to some of the more generic plant compounds like Vit. C, which is sprinkled throughout the plant kingdom. Whereas there are specific phytonutrients produced by specific plants to perform specific functions both in their organs and ours, and we miss out on them if we're stuck in a fruit and vegetable rut. Even if everyday we're eating a lot. There are tens of thousands of phytonutrients, but they're not evenly distributed throughout the plant kingdom. Those wonderful glucosinolates, I've talked about, are found almost exclusively in the cabbage family. You don't get limonoids like lemonene and lemonol or tangeritin in apples, for example. Comparing apples and oranges is like comparing apples and oranges. In a sense, though, all fruits are just fruits, whereas vegetables can be any other part of the plant. Roots harbor different nutrients than shoots. Carrots are roots; celery and rhubarb are stems; dark green leafies are leaves. Peas are pods and cauliflower is, true to its name, a collection of flower buds. But all fruits are just fruits. So maybe even more important is to get in a variety of vegetables so you can benefit from all parts of the plant. And that's indeed what they found.