Plums for Less Costly Antioxidants

If you're looking for a less expensive source of antioxidants than pricey organic blueberries, scientists at Texas AgriLife Research suggest trying plums. Or peaches. Or nectarines. The investigators studied more than 100 varieties of these fruits and found their antioxidant and phytonutrient content to be as good as - or even better than - blueberries, which are an acknowledged great source of health protective antioxidants. Eating just one plum will give you the same amount of antioxidants you would get in a handful of blueberries scattered on your cereal, the researchers said. They also looked at the effect of the protective compounds found in plums on breast cancer cells in the lab and reported that the phytonutrients in plums inhibited the growth of the malignant cells without compromising normal cell growth. All told, they suggested that in tough economic times, relatively inexpensive plums could be a better antioxidant bet than more costly berries. One caveat: because they fall about in the middle of pesticide load ranking by the Environmental Working Group (EWG), try to choose organic varieties of plums whenever possible. The study was funded by the Vegetable and Fruit Improvement Center at Texas A&M University and the California Tree Fruit Agreement.