The 41 Best Disease-Fighting Foods, According to Science

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GP Dr Dawn Harper previously told HuffPost UK that she’s sceptical of “superfoods” – “there is no one single silver bullet that will enhance your chances of living a long and healthy life,” she said.

You might think that Dr Jennifer Di Noia, an Associate Professor of Sociology at William Paterson University, whose 2014 paper sought to find the best fruits and veg to reduce our disease risk, was more fond of terms like these.

But she had her own concerns. “Efforts to define... powerhouse fruits and vegetables (PFV), foods most strongly associated with reduced chronic disease risk... are lacking,” she wrote at the time.

So, the researcher set out research-backed terms.

What counts as “powerhouse fruits and vegetables” or PFVs?

In her study, “powerhouse” fruits and vegetables had to offer at least 10% more of 17 nutrients per 100 calories than other foods.

These nutrients the study looked at were:

potassium,fibre,protein,calcium,iron,thiamin,riboflavin,niacin,folate,zinc,vitamin A,vitamin B6,vitamin B12,vitamin C,vitamin D,vitamin E, andvitamin K.

These nutrients had been deemed of public health importance by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations and Institute of Medicine, the paper read.

The more of these a plant packed per calorie, the higher the PFV’s nutrient density score was.

However, the paper stressed that these aren’t the only potentially health-boosting components of food; therefore, these metrics could miss some produce that’s great for us.

41 fruits and vegetables, ranked by disease-fighting potential

Of the 47 foods the study author looked at, 41 met her criteria for “PFV”. (The six that missed the mark were raspberries, tangerines, cranberries, garlic, onion, and blueberries).

In order, their nutrient density scores were:

Watercress – 100.00Napa cabbage – 91.99Chard – 89.27Beetroot greens – 87.08Spinach – 86.43Chicory – 73.36Leaf lettuce – 70.73Parsley – 65.59Romaine lettuce – 63.48Collard greens – 62.49Turnip greens – 62.12Mustard leaves – 61.39Endive – 60.44Chive – 54.80Kale – 49.07Dandelion leaves – 46.34Red pepper – 41.26Rocket – 37.65Broccoli – 34.89Pumpkin – 33.82Brussels sprouts – 32.23Spring onion – 27.35Kohlrabi – 25.92Cauliflower – 25.13Cabbage – 24.51Carrot – 22.60Tomato – 20.37Lemon – 18.72Iceberg lettuce – 18.28Strawberry – 17.59Radish – 16.91Winter squash (all varieties) – 13.89Orange – 12.91Lime – 12.23Grapefruit (pink and red) – 11.64Swede – 11.58Turnip – 11.43Blackberries – 11.39Leeks – 10.69Sweet potato – 10.51Grapefruit (white) – 10.47.

With that said, the best approach for a healthy diet is eating a balance of healthy foods. Diets rich in fruits and vegetables of all different kinds is liked to better heart health, the British Heart Foundation has said.