ABSTRACT
The modern Western diet is based on nutrients received from only a small number of plants; 80 percent of the nutrients come from 17 plants and 50 percent of the calories from 8 grains. Furthermore, the most Western food is extensively processed, which not only reduces the nutritional value of the food, but also increases the level of systemic inammation in the body. Many nutrients and antioxidants do not sustain heating and drying; among them are the important amino acid glutamine and the master antioxidant glutathione. Furthermore, manipulation of food, especially heating, increases the content of unwanted proinammatory ingredients. These include mutagens, oxidized fatty acids-trans-fatty acids-and dysfunctional and highly proinammatory proteins, or Maillard products, which are most often advanced glycation and advanced lipoxidation end products; they are referred to as AGEs and ALEs (see Chapter 7). Among foods rich in AGEs and ALEs are dairy products especially powdered milk (frequently used in enteral nutrition and baby formulas, and in numerous foods such as ice cream), cheese, bakery products (bread crusts, crisp breads, pretzels, biscotti) and cereals (crisp rice), overheated (especially deep-fried and oven-fried) meat and poultry, as well as sh, drinks like coffee and cola, Chinese soy, balsamic products, and smoked foods in general (for further information, see Goldberg et al.1,2). The consumption of such foods, often the main constituents in fast foods, has increased dramatically in recent decades, much in parallel with the endemic of chronic diseases. The antiinammatory effects of plant bers and probiotic bacteria might not be strong enough to control chronically enhanced systemic inammation, strongly associated with the global epidemic of chronic diseases.
