Variety, the spice of life, is also the path to good health. In recent years researchers have shown that various phytochemicals--substances that plants use to ward off insects, viruses, bacteria, and cell mutations--can lessen disease risk in people and animals who dine on the plants containing them. Phytochemicals affect the color of many vegetables and fruits; hence the advice to eat a rainbow of produce has replaced the old view that green is supreme.

Now, new research suggests that combining certain fruits and vegetables in a single meal boosts their disease-fighting power. Laboratory animals fed a combination of tomatoes and broccoli had markedly less prostate-tumor growth than those that ate either food alone, according to a recently presented study scheduled to appear in the Journal of Nutrition.

That’s good reason to fill your diet with dishes that combine a wide variety of vegetables and fruits. Choose real foods over supplements of lutein, lycopene, or other phytonutrients, so that you get the whole range of plant chemicals--plus the fiber, which reduces the risk of some cancers, helps the heart, and aids in weight control. The table below lists the possible benefits of some phytochemicals in different-colored produce.

“The bottom line is to combine not just tomatoes and broccoli, but a range of different vegetables because of the ways they may interact,” says Jeff Prince, vice president for education at the nonprofit American Institute for Cancer Research.

color me healthful