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Keep healthy and protect yourself against certain cancers, arthritis, heart disease, cataracts and even premature ageing, by eating brightly coloured fruit and vegetables.

By Juliette Kellow, Yahoo Life Style

As children we might have been told to ‘eat our greens’, but now health experts agree it’s just as important to eat our reds, oranges, yellows, blues and purples, too.

Scientists now know that many of the naturally occurring chemicals (phytochemicals) responsible for giving fruit and veg their bright colours actually help keep us healthy and free from disease. Fruit and vegetables contain hundreds of colourful phytochemicals that act as antioxidants, which help to ‘mop up’ potentially harmful molecules called free radicals before they get a chance to damage cells.

As a result, antioxidant-rich fruit and vegetables can help to protect against a whole host of problems, including heart disease, cancer, cataracts and even premature ageing.

Research shows phytochemicals in fruit and vegetables of various colours also offer other health benefits. As a result, as well as encouraging us to eat five servings of fruit and vegetables a day, nutritionists now say it’s important to choose a ‘rainbow’ of colours. This means picking one daily serving of fruit and vegetables from each of the four colour groups – red, orange/ yellow, green, and purple/blue.

All those different colours will add plenty of flavours and textures to dishes, making meals not just more healthy, but more enjoyable and satisfying.

1. Red

Choose from: raspberries, cranberries, strawberries, cherries, pomegranates, apples, grapes, rhubarb, pink grapefruit, watermelon, guava, tomatoes, peppers, radishes, radicchio and potatoes.

What they contain: Lycopene (a carotenoid) and anthocyanins (a flavonoid) are two of the main pigments that give fruit and vegetables a red colour. Many of these also provide good amounts of vitamin C.

Why they are good for you: Tomatoes, watermelon, guava and pink grapefruit are a good source of lycopene, which may help protect against some cancers, especially prostate cancer. We absorb lycopene more easily when foods have been heated, so processed tomatoes are better than raw. Fat, such as olive oil or cheese, also helps enhance absorption. Anthocyanins, found in red fruits, may help fight cancer, keep the heart healthy, improve vision and memory and avoid urinary tract infections.

Antioxidant-rich fruit and vegetables can help to protect against a whole host of problems, including heart disease, cancer, cataracts and even premature ageing.

2. Green

Choose from: asparagus, avocado, rocket, spinach, lettuce, watercress, cucumber, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, leafy cabbage, spring greens, beans, peas, sugar snap peas, mangetout, cress, courgette, peppers, spring onions, leeks, apples, grapes and kiwi fruit.

What they contain: Green fruit and veg are coloured by a pigment called chlorophyll. Many are good sources of two carotenoids called lutein and zeaxanthin, plus they contain phytochemicals such as indoles and glucosinolates and nutrients such as beta-carotene, folate, iron and calcium.

Why they are good for you: Research shows that lutein and zeaxanthin act as ‘natural’ sunglasses and filter out harmful light that can damage the eyes. A good intake of these antioxidants may help prevent age-related macular degeneration, a leading cause of blindness, and may help protect against cataracts. Green vegetables may also help protect against cancer.

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By Emma Wilkinson

Health reporter,BBC News

A vaccine patch could cut out the need for painful needles and boost the effectiveness of immunisation against diseases like flu, say US researchers.

The patch has hundreds of microscopic needles which dissolve into the skin.

Tests in mice show the technology may even produce a better immune response than a conventional jab.

The patch has hundreds of tiny needles

Writing in Nature Medicine, the team of researchers said the patch could one day enable people to vaccinate themselves.

Each patch, developed by researchers at Emory University and the Georgia Institute of Technology, contains 100 “microneedles” which are just 0.65mm in length.

They are designed to penetrate the outer layers of skin, dissolving on contact.

To test the technology, the researchers loaded the needles with an influenza vaccine.

One group of mice received the influenza vaccine using traditional hypodermic needles and another group were vaccinated with the patch.

Patches that had no vaccine on them were applied to a third group of mice.

Three months down the line the team found the patch appeared to produce a more effective immune response in mice, then infected with the flu virus, than a standard vaccination.

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