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http://my.webmd.com/content/article/104/107638.htm

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• A ground-breaking study that looked at numerous foods says beans - red, black, pinto, kidney -- are high-octane sources of antioxidants.
• Antioxidants are the disease-fighting compounds that Mother Nature puts in foods to help our bodies stay healthy, explains researcher Jeffrey Blumberg, PhD, professor of nutrition at Tufts University in Boston.
• The USDA guidelines recommend eating a variety of fruits and vegetables each day, selecting from all five vegetable subgroups: dark green vegetables, legumes (beans), starchy vegetables, orange vegetables, and other vegetables.
• They also suggest eating at least two and a half cups of vegetables daily for people eating 2,000 calories.
• Researchers used advanced technology to study 100 fruits, vegetables, and other food sources to measure the levels of antioxidants.
• Beans were the clear winners, but so was a quirky mix of other veggies - artichoke hearts, russet potatoes, sweet potatoes, spinach, and eggplant.
• Researchers have identified some 5,000 different flavonoids fruits and vegetables, explains Ronald Prior, PhD, a chemist and nutritionist with the USDA's Arkansas Children's Nutrition Center in Little Rock, Ark.
• Yet the body simply doesn't absorb all flavonoids equally well - that is, not all are as bioavailable as others.
• "Bioavailability has to do with absorption or metabolism in the gut, a process we know very little about," Prior says.
• Here's the science behind it: An antioxidant attached to a fiber or sugar molecule may require certain enzymes in the gut to help absorption, he explains.
• Flavonoids in cooked tomatoes are better absorbed than raw tomatoes.
• Eating beans may help prevent colon cancer and reduce blood cholesterol, a leading cause of heart disease, researchers say.
• Beans are also a great protein source, says Cindy Moore, MS, RD, director of nutrition therapy at The Cleveland Clinic, and spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association.

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