The Undiscovered Superfood

With all the marketing hooplah over superfoods like acai, goji and noni, we tend to foget that some of the best superfoods on the planet are right under our noses and don't cost an arm and a leg (like some of these overpriced multi-level marketed juice drinks do).

The latest hero to emerge on the superstar galaxy is... get ready for this-plums.

Yup, plums.

Food scientist Dr. Luis Cisneros and plant breeder David Byrne judged more than 100 varieties of plums, peaches and nectarines and found them to match (or even exceed) the highly valued blueberries in antioxidants and phytonutrients. According to Byrne, one inexpensive plum contains about the same amount of antioxidants as a handful of blueberries.

"People tend to eat just a few blueberries at a time - a few on the cereal or as an ingredient mixed with lots of sugar," Cisneros said. "But people will eat a whole plum at once and get the full benefit."

The researchers didn't stop after measuring the considerable antioxidant content of plums, which- by the way- has been noted in other tests, where plums consistently score near the top of the list of high-antioxidant foods. They also tested the effect of the compounds found in the fruit on breast cancer cells.

One benefit the team found was that the phytonutrients in plums inhibited in vitro (test tube) breast cancer growth without adversely affecting normal cell growth.

"We suggest that consumers take seriously the recommendation to eat at least five servings of fruits and vegetables - or even more - every day and to make sure that plums are part of that," Byrne said.