It has become axiomatic that fruits and vegetables are protective against disease. Every single one of us has heard the old adage, “An apple a day keeps the doctor away” (although a recent study found that this particular aphorism, at the most literal level, may not be strictly true). Humans have intuitively recognized the link between edible plants and health for thousands of years. Of course, our ancient ancestors had to figure it out the hard way – through self-experimentation. It is only very recently in our history as a species that we have been able to identify these benefits through empirical methods. Over the past decades, countless scientific studies have investigated the relationship between consumption of fruits and vegetables and human health and disease, and compelling evidence has emerged. For example, a prospective population-based cohort study in the Netherlands found that the risk of coronary heart disease incidence was 34% lower for subjects with a high