Month: January 2014

Unexpected diagnosis: Some medical tests may be harmful to your health

Everyone’s heard a story: Someone got an MRI for a sports injury or dizziness and the radiologist found a tumor, just in the nick of time. Or maybe it was an aneurysm, just about to burst. Lives were saved. It was great luck.

Some of the stories are dramatic. Joan Rachlin of Boston got what seemed to be a routine Pap smear 27 years ago. Like most Pap smears, it was deemed normal. “I got a call something like seven months later from a gynecological pathologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston,” Rachlin told NBC News.

“He was doing research on Pap smear tissue and he had come across mine. He discovered that my Pap smear had been misread and that, in fact, I had a cancerous lesion.”

It’s what’s called an incidental finding — the researcher, who Rachlin says does not wish to be named, was studying something else and in fact had to go to some trouble to match the sample to a real person. “He thought my Pap smear had really been so poorly interpreted that my life was in danger,” said Rachlin, who is executive director of Public Responsibility in Medicine and Research. “I am alive today because a very, very conscientious researcher had read my Pap and decided to break the code and find me.”

Joan Rachlin found out she had cancer 27 years ago, purely by accident. There were no guidelines at the time for telling her.
Courtesy of Joan Rachlin
Joan Rachlin found out she had cancer 27 years ago, purely by accident. There were no guidelines at the time for telling her.
There were no guidelines — the researcher just went rogue. More checks showed Rachlin did indeed have cancer, but it was early stage and surgery took care of it.

Today whole industries are building up around the possibility that a test will find a medical problem that was just about to kill you. The latest entry — whole genome tests that promise to detail your medical future in a drop of spit.

But it’s starting to become clear that not all these findings are lifesaving, and some can be downright harmful. Take the case of the elderly woman whose chest lung X-ray showed what looked like lung tumors. She had a biopsy done — a tricky procedure that involves poking a long needle through the chest wall, or sending a bronchoscope down into the delicate lungs. Her lung collapsed and she died. The tumor, it turned out, was harmless. Were it not for the scan, she would have still been alive.

Her case is outlined in a report issued last month by the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues.

As more and more tests become available and standard, from MRIs to CT scans, to genetic tests and ultrasounds, these issues will come up more often. There’s even a name for these often harmless tumors that get discovered — they’re called incidentalomas.

For instance, 10 percent of brain scans and more than 30 percent of abdominal CT scans turn up something that doctors weren’t looking for and that may need more tests, says Dr. Stephen Hauser, who heads the neurology department at the University of California, San Francisco and who helped lead the Bioethics Commission panel in its report on the issue.

Source: Nmc news

Diet and exercise: cancer benefits in huge study of women’s health

In a large study of women’s health, postmenopausal women who followed a healthy lifestyle were at a third lower risk of death, including a 20% smaller chance of dying from cancer, than women who did not follow guidance on diet, weight, physical activity, and alcohol intake.

“While it is well recognized that tobacco cessation is the lead behavioral change to reduce cancer risk,” the authors write, they analyzed the effect of other cancer prevention recommendations.

The researchers used data gathered by the observational study in the women’s health initiative of the US National Institutes of Health, which was launched in 1992 with a $140 million, 15-year contract: “the largest coordinated study of women’s health ever undertaken.”

Cynthia Thomson PhD and her colleagues analyzed data from 65,838 postmenopausal women age between 50 and 79 years.

The participants were enrolled in the women’s health initiative between 1993 and 1998 at 40 clinical centers across the country, and the team’s analysis represents the “largest study of postmenopausal women in the US.”

Those women who adhered most to lifestyle recommendations had a 22% lower risk for breast cancer and a 52% lower risk for colorectal cancer, compared with women who did not closely follow guidance.

The recommendations being followed were the American Cancer Society (ACS) guidelines on nutrition and physical activity, which have four central planks:

“Achieve and maintain a healthy weight throughout life”
“Be physically active”
“Eat a healthy diet, with an emphasis on plant foods”
“If you drink alcohol, limit your intake.”
Dr. Thomson, professor of public health at the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health at the University of Arizona in Tucson, says:

“The message is simple and clear: If you want to reduce your risk for cancer, even later in life, eat a healthy diet, be active daily, avoid or limit alcohol, and don’t smoke.”

“Our results support the ACS guidelines for cancer prevention,” Thomson adds, but she calls for more support for other factors that can reduce the risks further, “because diet and activity alone do not account for the majority of risk.”

The researchers scored women’s adherence to the lifestyle advice on cancer prevention.

Zeroes were given for “behaviors least consistent with the recommendations” and scores of one or two were given for healthy lifestyle actions, adding these up to a maximum level of compliance represented by a total score of eight.

Most of the women in the study had final scores between three and six. Fewer than 1% of the women scored eight after following all of the recommended lifestyle choices.

Analysis of almost 9,000 cancers
Data on the women were collected over an average of 8.3 years, a period that witnessed the diagnosis of 8,632 cancers and 2,356 cancer-related deaths.

The women whose lifestyles were rated the healthiest (a score of seven or eight) showed a lower risk of overall cancer compared with those given low scores (from zero to two).

This included a reduction by a fifth in their risk for breast cancer, and by half for colorectal cancer.

The healthier lifestyles were also associated with a lower risk of death from other causes not related to cancer.

The authors note that guidelines for healthy lifestyle in the prevention of cancer have been based on evidence from few such prospectively identified associations.

The researchers’ conclusions are drawn from the women’s health initiative, which was a study designed at the outset to track future health changes over time.

Such prospective studies result in comparisons that are controlled and more reliable than can be drawn retrospectively, by looking back on data that was not collected for the purpose.

Lifestyle effect was greater in some groups of women
The analysis found an even lower incidence of cancers and lower overall death rate among women from certain ethnic groups as a result of the lifestyle measures, and the paper calls for more research into this difference.

Dr. Thomson says:

“We found that the association was stronger for Asian, African-American, and Hispanic women, compared with non-Hispanic white women.

It is possible that different ethnic groups may have differential disease course with varied response to environmental and/or behavioral exposures.”

Source: medical news today

H5N1 bird flu death confirmed in Alberta, 1st in North America

Alberta health officials have confirmed an isolated, fatal case of H5N1 or avian influenza, federal Health Minister Rona Ambrose said Wednesday.

But officials repeatedly emphasized that there is no risk of transmission between humans.

The infected person, an Alberta resident who recently travelled to Beijing, China, died Jan. 3.

The case was confirmed in a lab test last night. It’s the first such case in North America.

The person first showed symptoms of the flu on a Dec. 27 flight from Beijing to Vancouver aboard Air Canada flight 030. The passenger continued on to Edmonton on Air Canada flight 244, after spending a few hours in the Vancouver airport, and was admitted to hospital Jan. 1. The symptoms of fever, malaise and headache worsened and the patient died two days later. The Public Health Agency of Canada was notified Jan. 5.

There were no respiratory symptoms, said Dr. James Talbot, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health.

The diagnosis at the time of death was an inflammation of the brain and the linings that cover the brain. “That is one of the ways that H5N1 patients die,” Talbot said.

It is not known how the patient contracted the disease. The patient did not leave Beijing, did not travel to farms and did not visit any markets.

“Virtually every case has a pretty strong link to a close contact with birds,” Talbot said, though he noted there are other settings in which a person might catch H5N1, such as a restaurant that kept live birds for slaughter.

Rare in humans

Dr. Gregory Taylor, deputy chief public health officer, said the avian form of influenza has been found in birds, mainly poultry, in Asia, Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

There have been fewer than than 650 human cases of bird flu in 15 countries over the last decade, primarily among people who have spent time around infected birds, he said.

“The illness [H5N1] causes in humans is severe and kills about 60 per cent of those who are infected,” Taylor said.

“No other illnesses of this type have been identified in Canada since the traveller returned from China. This is an isolated case.”

The officials added that the patient was otherwise healthy and it’s not yet clear how the person contracted H5N1.

Speaking to Evan Solomon, host of CBC News Network’s Power & Politics, Taylor said the patient was relatively young.

“This was a relatively young — well, a young person compared to me, with no underlying health conditions,” he said. Taylor is 58.

Risk of getting H5N1 low

Officials emphasized that this is not a disease transmitted between humans.

There were two people travelling with the infected person, whom officials are following for 10 days to ensure they don’t have any symptoms. They are also going to notify the other passengers from the flights between Beijing and Edmonton, and are following a group of the patient’s “close contacts.”

Talbot said family members of the victim are being monitored and treated with medication, but noted that there’s no sign they are sick.

Officials created confusion by referring to the patient as “him” and “her” in order to avoid identifying anyone. Officials said that they would not identify the sex, age or occupation of the patient. They also refused to say whether the infected passenger was an Edmonton resident or whether the patient went to hospital in Edmonton, although the final leg of the flight ended there.

Talbot said reports that the patient was from Edmonton are erroneous.

Ambrose, who phoned into a news conference in Ottawa, said Canadian officials are working with Chinese authorities on the case, as well as the World Health Organization.

“The risk of getting H5N1 is very low. This is not the regular seasonal flu. This is an isolated case,” she said.

An Air Canada spokeswoman said in a statement the airline is co-operating with officials, but referred any questions on the matter to the Public Health Agency of Canada.

Source: CBC news

Roche ‘brain shuttle’ technology offers Alzheimer’s hope

Roche logo_Reuters.jpg

Swiss drug maker Roche has found an efficient way for complex antibody drugs to reach and penetrate the brain, raising the possibility of more effective treatments for diseases such as Alzheimer’s.

The innovative brain shuttle technology, which has so far been tested in mice, can cross the blood-brain barrier that has been a key obstacle for researchers working on neurological drugs because it acts as a seal against large molecules such as antibodies.

Alzheimer’s is a fatal brain-wasting disease that affects 44 million people worldwide, with the number set to triple by 2050, campaign group Alzheimer’s Disease International says.

Although there is still no treatment that can effectively modify the disease or slow its progression, a number of companies – including Roche, Eli Lilly, Merck & Co and Johnson & Johnson – are pursuing a variety of approaches to get to the root cause.

It is proving an uphill battle. Over the past 15 years more than 100 experimental Alzheimer’s drugs have failed in tests. Industry analysts believe that the prize for a truly effective drug could be a market worth $10 billion in annual sales.

Roche’s new technology works by hijacking a natural transport mechanism called receptor-mediated transcytosis, which is normally used by the body to transfer proteins inside the brain.

“We have basically designed this module, called shuttle, that binds to this transport mechanism and shuttles a cargo inside the brain,” Luca Santarelli, Roche’s head of neuroscience, ophthalmology and rare diseases, said in a telephone interview.

ANTIBODY BOOST

Results of a study published in the journal Neuron on Wednesday found the technology helped to increase the concentration of antibodies in the brains of mice, reducing the amount of amyloid plaque, which is a hallmark of Alzheimer’s.

Roche tested a precursor of its experimental Alzheimer’s drug gantenerumab in the pre-clinical trials. The amount of antibody that penetrated the brain increased more than fiftyfold.

Santarelli said that the brain shuttle technology is not limited to the memory-robbing disease and could be applied to other neurodegenerative disorders such as Huntington’s disease. The drugmaker is in the process of evaluating which therapeutic targets and diseases to prioritize.

Roche has struck a deal with U.S. biotech firm Isis to develop treatments for Huntington’s and aims to engineer a shuttle to increase penetration of drugs into the brain. It is also working on a program with Irish company Prothena in Parkinson’s disease.

Santarelli said that all projects are still in pre-clinical testing and the company needs to undertake a few more steps before it can begin clinical trials.

Turning to Roche’s Alzheimer’s pipeline, he said that its Phase III trial of gantenerumab in patients who have yet to develop dementia is on track, with results expected in the first half of 2016.

Roche has two other drugs in clinical testing, including crenezumab, which has been chosen for a U.S. government-backed trial in a group of Colombians with a genetic mutation that leads to Alzheimer’s in their forties.

Source: health wise daily

Temporary Fever May Occur When Kids Under 2 Get 2 Shots at Once

Young children who receive flu and pneumococcal vaccines at the same time are at increased risk for temporary fever, a new study reports.

While parents should be told about this risk, the benefits of the vaccines outweigh the risks of fever, the researchers said.

The study included 530 children, aged 6 months to 23 months, who were followed for a week after receiving flu and pneumococcal vaccines either separately or at the same time. The annual flu shot is recommended for healthy people over 6 months of age, and the pneumococcal vaccine is recommended for children younger than 5 years old, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Nearly 38 percent of the children who received the vaccines at the same time had a fever of 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit or higher on the day of or the day after vaccination, compared with 9.5 percent of those who received the pneumococcal vaccine only and 7.5 percent of those who received the flu vaccine only, the investigators found.

For every 100 children, there were an additional 20 to 23 cases of temperatures of 100.4 F or higher in those who received the vaccines together, compared to those who received only one of the vaccines, the findings showed. There were also 15 additional cases per 100 of temperatures of 102.2 F or higher among children who were given the vaccines at the same time, compared to those who received the flu vaccine alone, but not compared to those who received the pneumococcal vaccine alone.

Rates of fever among the different groups of children did not differ in the two to seven days after vaccination, according to the study published online Jan. 6 in the journal JAMA Pediatrics.

“While our data suggest that giving children the influenza and pneumococcal vaccines together at the same visit increases the risk of fever, compared with getting only one of the vaccines at the visit, these findings should be viewed in context of the benefit of vaccines to prevent serious illness in young children, as well as the recognized need to increase vaccination rates overall,” study first author Dr. Melissa Stockwell, an assistant professor of pediatrics and population and family health at Columbia University, said in a university news release.

“Parents should be made aware that their child might develop a fever following simultaneous influenza and pneumococcal vaccinations, but that the benefits of these vaccines outweigh the risk of fever and, in most cases, the fever will be brief,” Stockwell said.

“For the small group of children who must avoid fever, these findings provide important information for clinicians and parents,” she added in the news release.

Study co-author Dr. Philip LaRussa, a professor of pediatrics at Columbia and specialist in pediatric infectious diseases at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia, pointed out that “these findings are a first step; the next step is to figure out if there are any measurable biological markers, such as findings in a blood sample, that are associated with increased risk of fever after vaccination.”

Source: web md

Early `water breaking` linked to premature births

A high presence of bacteria at the site where fetal membranes rupture may be the key to understanding why some pregnant women experience their “water breaking” prematurely, researchers at Duke Medicine report.

bacterial presence is associated with thinning of the fetal membranes. More research is needed to understand whether bacterial presence is a cause or consequence of fetal membrane weakening.

“Complications of preterm births can have long-term health effects for both mothers and children,” said study author Amy P. Murtha, M.D., associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Duke University School of Medicine. “Our research focuses on why the fetal membranes, or water sac, break early in some women, with the overall goal of better understanding the mechanisms of preterm membrane rupture.”

Composed of two fetal cell layers, the amnion and chorion, fetal membranes play an important role in maintaining pregnancy through gestation. Nearly one-third of all early deliveries are associated with the water breaking in what’s known as preterm premature rupture of membranes, or PPROM.

Previous research from Murtha and her colleagues demonstrated that the chorion has more cell death when infection is present, and that this cell layer may be thinner in women who experience PPROM. Among PPROM patients with infection in the fetal membranes (chorioamnionitis), the cell death within the chorion layer was highest, suggesting that infection may play a role in causing PPROM.

In the current study, the researchers prospectively examined chorion membrane samples to identify a pattern of bacterial presence and association with chorion thinning. They collected membrane samples from a total of 48 women—including PPROM, preterm and term patients—after they gave birth. The researchers measured chorion thinning and bacterial presence in membrane samples collected from both near and far from the rupture site.

In all women, the chorion membrane was thinner at the rupture site than at the distant site. However, chorion thinning was greatest among PPROM patients and was not isolated to the rupture site, as the researchers observed a global chorion thinning even distant from where the membrane ruptured.

The researchers then looked to see if bacteria were present in the membranes and whether bacteria levels correlated with the thinning of the cell layers in the membranes. Interestingly, bacteria were present in all fetal membranes, refuting the traditional understanding that fetal membranes are sterile environments. The amount of bacteria present at the rupture site was higher, which the researchers were not surprised to find.

Among PPROM subjects, bacteria counts were highest compared to all other groups at both the rupture site and distant from the rupture site. Among all subjects, bacterial counts were inversely correlated with chorion thinning: the more bacteria present, the thinner the chorion.

It is unknown if this is a causal relationship, but the link between high bacterial presence at the membrane rupture site provides insight into possible mechanisms behind PPROM.

“We still know little about changes occurring within the fetal membrane in the presence of bacteria, but our data suggest the chorion and its thinning may be the battleground for these changes,” Murtha said.

The researchers are now working to identify the bacteria to determine if specific bacteria are found in PPROM patients. By identifying specific bacteria, the researchers can learn more about the role of bacterial presence, which could eventually lead to preventive treatments.

“For instance, if we think that certain bacteria are associated with premature rupturing of the membranes, we can screen for this bacteria early in pregnancy. We then might be able to treat affected women with antibiotics and reduce their risk for PPROM,” Murtha said. “Our research is several steps away from this, but it gives us opportunities to explore potential targeted therapeutic interventions, which we lack in obstetrics.”

Source: Medical Express

Five reasons why you should eat spinach

Spinach the green leafy vegetable which is the source of Popeye`s strength, is a winter super food packed with immense nutrients.

Here are a few health benefits of spinach:

A rich source of dietary fibre, spinach aids digestion, prevents constipation, maintains low blood sugar and curbs

overeating thus aiding weight loss.

Flavonoids — a phytonutrient abundant in spinach offers protection against stomach, skin and aggressive prostate cancer.

An excellent source of antioxidant nutrients – vitamin C, vitamin E, beta-carotene, manganese, zinc and selenium – it helps decrease risk of several blood vessel-related problems, including atherosclerosis, osteoporosis and high blood pressure.

Antioxidants lutein and zeaxanthin in spinach protect the eye from cataracts and age-related macular degeneration.

Vitamin K abundant in spinach is important for maintaining the strength and density of the bones. Vitamin K1 helps prevent excessive activation of osteoclasts, the cells that break down bone.

Source: Zee news

New surgical ‘smart patch’ for shoulder injury to be tested

An innovative ‘surgical patch’ that promotes rapid regrowth of tendon tissue could transform the success of shoulder repair operations.

The patch will be used by surgeons to repair torn tendon tissue, and patient trials are expected to begin this year.

Made from a new material developed by a team of surgeons, engineers and biochemists in Oxford, the ‘smart patch’ promotes rapid regrowth of damaged tissue ensuring the injury heals more quickly and more successfully.

The project is a collaboration between the University of Oxford and Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust, and is funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Oxford Biomedical Research Unit and the Medical Research Council.

Andy Carr, an Oxford University Hospitals surgeon and Nuffield Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Oxford, led the development of the patch. It has been designed to repair damage to the rotator cuff, the group of tendons and muscles that controls movement of the shoulder.

More than 10,000 rotator cuff repairs are performed in the UK each year (more than 300,000 are performed in the US), and the group’s own research has shown that between 25% and 50% will fail to heal properly.

‘Around a third of the population will suffer from shoulder pain due to tendon disease at some time in their life, making it the third most common musculoskeletal complaint,’ said Professor Carr of the Nuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Sciences at Oxford University.

‘This type of injury will not kill you but it can seriously affect your quality of life. Patients are often in a lot of pain, with severely restricted movement. In some cases it can affect your livelihood and in older people it can affect independence. This will become more and more of a problem as the population ages and the retirement age is increased.’

Professor Carr said the failure rate of surgery was due to the fact that the body was failing to repair properly after surgery. To improve the outcomes of surgery, the team have designed a material that mimics the normal environment that cells require in order to mount a successful repair.

He added: ‘The key to the new patch is creating a composite of two material layers. One layer is a very fine “nanoscale” synthetic mesh that is recognised by cells and which promotes growth of new tissue. Our patch provides the physical cues needed for normal growth and development.

‘However, because this fine mesh is relatively flimsy, a second woven layer of thicker strands is bonded to it to provide strength. This stronger layer means the scaffold can be sutured in position by a surgeon. It also protects the repair during the six to eight weeks required for tissue healing.’

new shoulder

 

An additional and important feature is that the scaffold degrades and is absorbed by the body after three to six months, leavin

g no foreign material in the long term.

With an expected price tag of less that £1,500, the new patch could offer effective treatment at a fraction of the cost of alternatives such as the use of stem cells or growth factors. Given the increasing number of operations being carried out, this will be a significant consideration.

Professor Carr said: ‘One of the great strengths here in Oxford is having clinicians, engineers, biochemists and other specialists working together across the partnership between the University of Oxford and Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust. This multidisciplinary approach means that when unsolved clinical problems are identified we can investigate the cause, then develop a solution, before returning to clinic to test if it helps patients. It’s a bedside to bench and back again journey.’

Patient trials of the new patch are set to begin next year. Professor Carr added: ‘If successful, the patch has the potential to be adapted for use in other tissue repair operations such as heart surgery, hernia repair, bladder repair and the treatment of early arthritis.’

Source: University of Oxford

Parents’ attitude linked to kids’ chronic pain

Adolescents whose parents suffer from chronic pain may be more likely to develop ongoing pain too – especially if the parent tends to ‘catastrophize’ pain, according to new research.

“Children are careful observers of everything that we do as parents, and how we respond to our pain and to their pain is no different,” said Anna Wilson, a psychologist at Oregon Health & Science University who led the study.

Sometimes acting worried or repeatedly asking how a child is feeling can lead them to worry that the problem they are having is serious, even if it isn’t, Wilson said.

“Unfortunately, we know from many research studies that this (misplaced) worry tends to make pain worse,” she told Reuters Health.

In the study, 178 kids between the ages of 11 and 14 were recruited through their schools. They filled out questionnaires asking about ongoing physical issues such as backaches, stomach pain and headaches, as well as how much the pain interfered with their everyday lives. The adolescents’ parents answered similar questions about their own pain.

Both kids and parents also filled out surveys focused on how they coped with the child’s pain, such as whether parent or child felt helpless about the condition or blew the pain out of proportion.

About one-fourth of adolescents and two-thirds of parents in the study reported having chronic pain, and parental pain was significantly linked to the likelihood of that parent’s child having pain.

Having a parent with pain and having a parent who magnified the significance of pain boosted the risk that a child would also put more emphasis on the pain’s importance, the team reports in the Journal of Pediatric Psychology.

The take-home point, according to Wilson, is that the most helpful way to approach ongoing pain in a child – such as repeated headaches or muscle aches – probably differs from the way a parent might act when the child has a short-term illness like stomach flu or a sprained ankle.

For that reason, it can be helpful for parents with chronic pain to seek outside help to pinpoint their own strengths, and to assist their kids in developing healthy ways to cope with pain and discomfort.

“Being a parent is hard; pain just makes it harder,” Wilson said.

“If you are a parent who has chronic pain and you are worried about how it might be impacting your child, talk with your own doctor, a pain psychologist or your child’s doctor,” she said.

Source: Reuters

Nutritionist discusses benefits of ‘eating in color’

It’s a brand new year, and we all want to get a jump on eating healthy. But sometimes we focus too much on counting grams of fiber or protein, or we focus in on specific nutrients. An easier (and definitely more fun) approach is to simply add more color to your meals and snacks.

In Eating in Color: Delicious, Healthy Recipes for Your and Your Family, I share recipes and tips for bringing more color to your table in a fun, stress-free way. The book highlights the entire spectrum and inspires you to add health-boosting fruits, veggies and whole grains to your diet by adding as many colors to your plate as possible. Fruits and vegetables contain compounds that reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke, some cancers, chronic respiratory diseases, diabetes and obesity. Most of us don’t get enough fruits, veggies or whole grains, so adding a couple of extra servings a day will go a long way to making us all healthier.

Here’s a guide to “Eating in Color” and the benefits that each color family provides.

Reds

This bold and beautiful family of fruits and vegetables is certainly physically attractive, but it also boasts a wide range of heart-healthy nutrients. Many members of the red family contain high levels of the antioxidant vitamin C, potassium and fiber. Vitamin C helps fight damage caused by free radicals throughout the body. Potassium is essential for maintaining normal blood pressure and keeps your heart beating regularly. And soluble fiber, found in many red fruits, helps lower “bad” LDL cholesterol.

Foods to try: pomegranates, raspberries, strawberries, watermelon, radishes, tomatoes, beets, red peppers, radicchio, rhubarb, cherries, cranberries, red apples, red onions

Oranges

The orange family ranges from delicate apricots to sturdy winter squash, but one thing they all have in common is a very special nutrient: beta-carotene. Beta-carotene is converted to vitamin A in the body and is needed for skin and eye cell growth. It’s also vital for a healthy immune and reproductive system.

Foods to try: pumpkins, orange peppers, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, mangos, oranges, apricots, peaches, cantaloupe, carrots

Yellows

The yellow family ranges from fragrant Meyer lemons to earthy yellow beets and is a little tough to categorize. This sunny group finds common ground in its wealth of antioxidant-rich compounds, which help fight chronic diseases including cancer and heart disease.

Foods to try: yellow beets, star fruit, yellow figs, lemons, yellow bell peppers

Greens

Green is Mother Nature’s favorite color. She uses it to color everything from leafy herbs to creamy avocados to refreshing cucumber. Most members of the green family are super slimming, with less than 50 calories per cup, so it makes sense to load up your plate with them. They also offer up antioxidants for longevity-boosting benefits. And many greens are a great vegetarian and vegan source of iron, as well as the B-vitamin folate, which is essential for a healthy pregnancy.

Foods to try: arugula, kiwi fruit, avocado, broccoli, spinach, cucumbers, zucchini, kale, fennel, Brussels sprouts, asparagus, edamame, mustard greens, sugar snap peas, herbs, lime, watercress

Blues, Indigos and Violets

It’s good to have the blues. This family of foods delivers high amounts of anthocyanins – a type of antioxidant that fights inflammation and may help reduce the risk of heart disease and cancer. And certain members of this gorgeous crew may also help keep your memory sharp and boost brainpower.

Foods to try: purple cabbage, blueberries, blackberries, eggplant, plums, prunes, figs, eggplant, purple potatoes, grapes, purple carrots

Blacks and Tans

This group may not be colorful in the traditional sense, but they still bring a lot to the table. Rich in fiber and antioxidants, these whole grains, legumes, fruits, fungi and seeds add big flavor and texture to meals and reduce your risk of diabetes and heart disease. Also, it includes everyone’s favorite – chocolate.

Foods to try: coconut, mushrooms, olives, chocolate, chia seeds, hemp seeds, barley, flax seeds, quinoa, black rice, freekeh, black beans