ABSTRACT
Dietary phytochemicals, food plant secondary metabolites, are a diverse range of low molecular weight compounds that include the flavonoids, hydroxycinnamates, glucosinolates, and allylsulfides. Consumption of plant foods is associated with a reduced risk of chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease and cancer, as demonstrated by the results of epidemiological cohort and case-control studies [1, 2]. It is likely that at least part of the protection from plant foods results from the action of the phytochemical component [3]; this may arise through mechanisms involving (direct or indirect) antioxidant activity, modulation of enzyme activity (including inhibition of phase I enzymes and induction of phase II enzymes), and modulation of gene expression [4, 5].
