Ever wish your favorite comfort food had a bit more pizzazz? It may be high time to diversify from your average meat and potatoes dinner, and this brightly colored vegetable is just the thing. The skin of the purple potato provides a shock of color that can snap us out of our yellow- and red-skinned comas, and boost our health at the same time.
The flesh of these colorful nightshades, praised recently in Mark Bittman’s New York Times column On Growing (And Eating Potatoes), come in many blue and purple varieties, though the Purple Viking and Purple Majesty are two of the most popular for their intense color. They have deep violet, ink-colored skin, and the flesh inside ranges from solid blue to speckled. Perhaps best of all, they taste just like the good old potato that we like so much.
Unearth Healthy Color
We know that blueberries are uniquely advantageous to health because of the pigment in the skin – that deep blue-purple color is a sign of antioxidant richness. Is the same true for a potato hued with blue? Absolutely. While blueberries, particularly wild blueberries, have the high skin-to-pulp ratio and deep color that makes them an antioxidant leader, the antioxidant anthocyanin, responsible for this color, is also behind the skin color of the purple potato. It’s found in other foods, too, like cabbage and eggplant.
While potatoes are challenged with a soiled reputation due to our over-love of the fried variety, potatoes are a vegetable that provides wonderful health benefits. They have moderate fat and calories, are full of vitamins C and B6, and provide a high dose of potassium, an essential nutrient we often get too little of.
Thanks to anthocyanins, the Purple Viking, a white-fleshed potato that Bittman describes as having “a purple skin with pink splashes, as pretty as it sounds” can be depended upon to deliver the anti-cancer, heart-healthy, anti-aging benefits that most deeply colored fruit and veggies do. In fact, they have been recently recognized for their potential to lower blood pressure. Bittman extols the virtues of this earthly purple gem for summer because, he says, they are a delightful food for the grill, and they shine in soups. They also cook and sauté quickly, maintain a perfectly crisp outside, and are full of flavor.
Purple potatoes are often available from local farmers and can be found in local grocery stores, but if you want to plant your very own and you live in Maine, you can obtain your seeds from the Maine Potato Lady in Guilford. Place your seed orders now to ship the last week of April, and you can be fixing up a blue-hued plate in a matter of months that your guests will really dig.
Eating Well is not afraid to showcase the purple potato’s surprising hue with this recipe for Roasted Garlic Purple Potatoes.
This Roasted Blue Potato Wedges with Fresh Herbs recipe (with wonderful step-by-step photos from the Hungry Mouse) is no April fool’s joke – the simple dish wears its purple proudly.
The more we know about the aging-nutrition connection, the more theory becomes immutable fact: “Dietary choices are critical to delaying the onset of aging and age-related diseases, and the sooner you start, the greater the benefit,” says Susan Moores, RD, of the American Dietetic Association. Not only is nutrition our secret weapon when it comes aging, the opposite is also true – what we eat can cause aging. So, if you are still searching for the fountain of youth, stop the exploring and start eating, because the jury is in: we can use food to speed aging, or to slow it. The choice is on your plate.
In fact, some experts assert that the disease and deterioration that we often consider the natural process of aging is not natural at all, and is, in fact, completely preventable. While aging may not be entirely preventable through nutrition – there are other environmental or biological factors at work – nutrition is clearly a major key to the prevention of the signs of aging and age-related disease.
How does this magical fountain of youth operate? Nutrition works at a cellular level, where the aging process originates. Deep in the cells of our bodies three factors are at work – they overlap and interact with each other, but they are all at the core of preventing – or hastening – the aging process.
The Anti-aging Keys
1. Inflammation
Anti-aging is synonymous with anti-inflammation. Chronic inflammation at the cellular level is at the heart of many degenerative age-related diseases, and controlling it could be the key to delaying the aging process.
Inflammation is an immune reaction on the cellular level. It is our body’s natural defense – the result of a reaction to environmental toxins, irritation, and infection. In a sort of biological conundrum, inflammation protects our bodies and deteriorates it as well. It is the root cause of many chronic and common diseases of aging, such as arthritis, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, osteoporosis, and Alzheimer’s disease.
The good news is that researchers have found that diet has a significant effect on inflammation. It can minimize inflammation and as a result, delay the aging process. Colorful fruits and vegetables, omega-3 and low glycemic foods, for instance, have been named as part of an anti-inflammation diet. Some diets can cause inflammation, too, essentially producing an immune system that is out of control and putting aging in high gear. We could call it the Aging Diet – one characterized by high-carb, low-protein foods, refined sugar and polyunsaturated fats.
2. Oxidation
Inflammation is caused by free radical damage, and the well-known evils of free radicals are due to oxidation. Simply stated, oxidation occurs when the body produces by-products, referred to as oxygen free radicals. The result is a kind of rusting of the body, and when this rusting is applied to humans and not iron, it results in aging and diseases such a cancer. Free radicals are produced inside our bodies, and occur as a result of food, environmental pollutions and everyday things like air, water and sun. As we age, we become more susceptible to the long-term effects of oxidative stress (or too many free radicals) and inflammation on the cellular level. As E.R. Stadtman, a NIH researcher explains, “Aging is a disease. The human life span simply reflects the level of free radical oxidative damage that accumulates in cells. When enough damage accumulates, cells can’t survive properly anymore and they just give up.”
How do we defeat the aging evil of oxidative stress? That’s where antioxidants (think anti-oxidation) come in. The antioxidants eliminate the damage that free radicals cause in our bodies. Some foods are high in antioxidant content and some contain powerful substances called phytonutrients that some believe are capable of unlocking the key to longevity. Phytonutrients are members of the antioxidant family, and are responsible for ridding the body of free radicals, and as a result, slowing the rusting, or the aging, process. That’s one of the reasons that a diet of high antioxidant foods is your first defense against aging.
3. Blood Flow
Blood flow is key #3, and is affected by inflammation and oxidation. Blood vessels are particularly vulnerable to oxidative stress and inflammation, and keeping them healthy cannot be understated when it comes to preventing age-related disease. Blood flow to the heart protects the heart muscle from damage, and prevents restricted blood vessels, which helps the brain, and every organ in the body.
Low blood flow is a major factor in aging; its relationship to aging and its diseases are permanently intertwined. Enter nutrition to change the equation. According to Steve Pratt, author of Superfoods Rx, some foods lower inflammatory markers, cause basal dilation and lower blood pressure and improve blood flow. They work on the capillary level to keep microcirculation working well, and that affects the heart, the brain and eyes and prevents the diseases of aging that attacks them.
Anti-aging Targets: Brain, Heart & Eyes
Maintaining our brain, heart, and eyes top the list for those concerned about preserving health and youthfulness as they age. If these things are healthy, chances are, you’re healthy, too. Perhaps it’s not surprising that usually, these three body parts work in tandem and are subject to the same forces – inflammation, oxidation and blood flow.
Brain. Isolating Alzheimer’s disease is one step toward achieving the ideal: anti-aging. If we can preserve brain function, along with body function, we can delay the aging process.
Researchers have discovered that one of the risk factors of deteriorating brain function appears to be how the body handles glucose. Studies of the genetic code of those with Alzheimer’s disease appear to suggest it is connected to cholesterol metabolism. Also, high antioxidant foods possess anti-inflammatory benefit to the brain, which researchers have found increases cell signaling pathways. We know nutrients are a contributor in combating oxidative stress, and oxidative stress is a major cause of neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.
Heart. Thanks again to the anti-inflammatory effect of some foods, good nutrition can have a major impact on aging by preserving the function of one of our most important organs, the heart. By decreasing inflammation in the arteries surrounding the heart, we can keep the heart functioning longer and better. Nutrients in some foods that are high in antioxidants protect the heart muscle from damage by acting as anti-inflammatory agents. Nutrition reduces cholesterol levels and by reducing build-up, which helps prevent cardiovascular disease and stroke. And, many studies into the compounds of fruits like wild blueberries indicate supplements can help regulate blood pressure and combat atherosclerosis.
Vision. According to an interesting new study, anthocyanins from blueberries may protect critical eye tissue from premature aging and light-induced damage. The study, published in the British Journal of Nutrition, indicates that cells treated with blueberry extract improved the viability of cells exposed to light which experienced premature aging. The conclusion of the author of the study was that “blueberries, or other kinds of fruits that are rich in anthocyanins, have the potential to prevent age-related macular degeneration and other retinal diseases related to RPE cells.”
Such examples of the vision-nutrition connection is part of a major boon in research into the benefits of dietary prevention when it comes to aging and diseases of aging. Researchers continue to find links between nutrition and healthy eyes. Studies indicate the vitamins and minerals from fruits and vegetables slow the progress of age-related vision loss, and while the exact nutrients and in what combinations is still unknown, researchers have concluded that the big three keys – anti-inflammation, anti-oxidation and blood flow, are at the heart of maintaining vision. Because some foods with anthocyanins, for instance, work on the capillary level to keep microcirculation working well, that has a positive affect on eyes, tired eyes, and vision diseases that occur with age.
Open the door to anti-aging. Still exploring, Ponce de Leon? Try exploring your kitchen instead. When you use nutrition to decrease inflammation, decrease oxidation, and enhance your blood flow, the aging brain, heart, and eyes will have a new lease on long, disease-free life.
One of the best ways to stay healthy and prevent disease is to eat from the rainbow. That means choosing foods that represent all the colors of the spectrum. Research continues to pile on the evidence to support the color concept. In fact, in tests conducted on rats fed different colored diets, rats fed a strictly white diet not only didn’t thrive, but they died—within three months.
The greatest number of healthful compounds can be found in the most colorful foods. Naturally bright hues prevent aging and disease and keeping our brains, our skin, and our hearts healthy. Available to our cavemen counterparts and on colorful, noticeable display to birds and animals, color sends a clear signal: nutrients can be found here. But what are we really taking in when we eat colorful foods?
Color 101
Plants are colorful because of pigments, which fall into two categories: carotenoids and anthocyanins. Carotenoids are at the yellow-orange-red end of the spectrum. They are found in foods like carrots and tomatoes and are also in leafy greens (they’re just covered by the green of chlorophyll). Anthocyanins are at the red-blue end of the color spectrum. There are over 300 types of anthocyanins, and they are found in a lot of the foods we eat, but they are on brightest display in berries and deep blue and purple colored fruits and vegetables.
Pigments serve as a food’s own personal SPF. They block the UV light that they are exposed to every day, protecting themselves from the free radicals that are produced by the sun – a result of photosynthesis. Just as they protect the plant, so do they protect us as when we eat them.
Just for Hue
Anthocyanin pigments give blueberries their intense blue color – a hue that is almost black, especially in high skin-to-pulp ratio wild blueberries. Blueberries can have as many as 25-30 different types of anthocyanins, and they have them in large concentrations. In studies, rats fed these colorful blueberries were shown to have better physical performance, better communication, fewer damaged proteins in the brain, and better cognitive function.
Recently, new Parkinson’s research has determined a connection between anthocyanin and Parkinson’s disease. Scientists found in preliminary research that the flavonoids in berries could be a key to prevention. While general flavonoids found across many different foods showed a positive link to prevention in men, anthocyanins found in blueberries protected both men and women from the disease, leading researchers to believe that anthocyanin-rich berries made the difference.
Anthocyanins and Cholesterol
Anthocyanins have been found to prevent a key step in atherogenesis: oxidation of low-density lipoproteins, or LDLs. Red pigments seem to retard the bad cholesterol and reduce platelet clumping, which guards against clots.
Anthocyanins and Blood Vessels
Anthocyanins also act as powerful antioxidants, known to fight aging, cancer and heart disease. They have been found to prevent oxidation which has implications for vascular disease, and they have also been found to relax blood vessels, reducing chances of heart attack.
Anthocyanins and Cancer
According to cancer prevention research, anthocyanins can inhibit the growth of tumor cells by slowing the growth of pre-malignant cells, and encouraging cancer cells to die off faster. They are also found to have an effect on reducing the precursors that initiate cancerous tumors.
The journal Molecular Cancer found that a special anthocyanin found in the skins of deeply colored vegetables and berries known as Cyanidin-3-glucoside (C3G) can contribute to decreasing the health-damaging free radicals, and new studies have found that anthocyanins found in black raspberries may inhibit colon cancer cells.
Color Your World!
If you are looking to increase your anthocyanin intake, and you should be, look to berries: wild blueberries, black berries, black raspberries and chokeberries top the list. Other great sources include red grapes, blackcurrant, and eggplant.
A surprising source for anthocyanins is black rice rumored to increase in popularity 2011 (along with mobile TV and bolder beer) due to its Mediterranean diet cache combined with its high anthocyanin content. It’s just one more way to start embracing color by putting an anthocyanin-rich rainbow on your plate.
