Abstract
One of the most pressing challenges for the next 50 years is to reduce the impact of chronic disease. Unhealthy eating is an increasing problem and underlies much of the increase in mortality from chronic diseases that is occurring worldwide. Diets rich in plant-based foods are strongly associated with reduced risks of major chronic diseases, but the constituents in plants that promote health have proved difficult to identify with certainty. This, in turn, has confounded the precision of dietary recommendations. Plant biochemistry can make significant contributions to human health through the identification and measurement of the many metabolites in plant-based foods, particularly those known to promote health (phytonutrients). Plant genetics and metabolic engineering can be used to make foods that differ only in their content of specific phytonutrients. Such foods offer research tools that can provide significant insight into which metabolites promote health and how they work. Plant science can reduce some of the complexity of the diet-health relationship, and through building multidisciplinary interactions with researchers in nutrition and the pathology of chronic diseases, plant scientists can contribute novel insight into which foods reduce the risk of chronic disease and how these foods work to impact human health.
Highlights
A major challenge in human health over the 50 years will be in the area of chronic, noncommunicable diseases, including heart disease, many cancers, type 2 diabetes, and obesity
In 2005, a chilling report from the World Health Organization highlighted the scale of the challenge: 80% of the mortality from chronic disease occurs in low and middle income countries, 60% of those with chronic conditions are aged between 18 and 64, the poor are most vulnerable to chronic disease because of their increased exposure to risks and lower access to health care, and chronic disease causes poverty through lost capacity and income
No differences were found in total levels of saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids nor in total n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) between the two dietary groups, but there were significantly higher levels of n-3 PUFAs in the plasma of animals fed the high anthocyanin diet and enhanced n-3: n-6 PUFA ratios in the plasma of these animals. These enhanced n-3:n-6 PUFA ratios were observed in plasma of animals fed anthocyanin-rich diets supplemented with palm oil and in those fed anthocyanin-rich diets supplemented with fish oil. These analyses demonstrated that high levels of dietary anthocyanins can give rise to alterations in endogenous PUFA metabolism that favor the formation of anti-inflammatory n-3 PUFAs
Summary
A major challenge in human health over the 50 years will be in the area of chronic, noncommunicable diseases, including heart disease, many cancers, type 2 diabetes, and obesity. The World Health Organization report projected that mortality from chronic disease would increase by 17% worldwide in the decade 2005 to 2015 due to longer average life span, tobacco use, decreasing physical activity, and perhaps most importantly, the increasing consumption of unhealthy foods. Because socio-behavioral risk factors contribute significantly to the incidence of and mortality from chronic disease, 36 million of the 388 million premature deaths predicted for 2005 to 2015 could be avoided if health, science, and public policies were reoriented toward prevention rather than cure. One of the five major objectives identified in this article was to modify the risk factors for chronic disease, and it is in this area, in identifying and understanding the health-promoting components
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