Colorful Plates Combat Flu

Individuals need to add more color (fruit and vegetables) to their dinner plate if they want to fight off flu and other viruses affecting the immune system.

Exponent for Nutrilite, who looked at both the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES) as well as the USDA data to analyze what Americans typically ate to compose America’s Phytonutrient Report, determined a positive phytonutrient gap in every color category.

“The fact that Americans are falling short in phytonutrient-rich fruits and vegetables measured in the report is concerning,” said Stephen Fortmann, M.D., director of the Stanford Prevention Research Center at Stanford University.

The health benefits of phytonutrients are believed to come from compounds, which determine their colors, primarily red, yellow and green.