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t m c » p u l s e | n o v e m b e r 2 0 1 6 16 Meanwhile, Davis found similar studies that showed eating plants helped lower blood pressure, cure diabetes and prevent heart dis- ease and hypertension. His search for randomized controlled trials, one of the least biased methods of experimen- tation, also proved fruitful. "It blew my mind," Davis said. "Putting heart disease patients on a plant-based diet showed a regression of plaque in the vessels— not just a stabilization, but regression. Trials showed unbelievable weight loss, showed people with prostate cancer reversal or regres- sion. There was a study that found total lengths of chromosomes grew longer with a plant- based diet." Wake up your vegetables Plants, like people, have a circadian clock, a day-and-night cycle. To protect themselves during the day—when they're most prone to insects, bacteria and viruses—plants release phytochemicals to defend themselves from these pests. In some edible plants, these same health-active compounds have potent anti- cancer properties for people. Scientists at Rice University are exploring the health value of vegetables at different times of the day. Janet Braam, Ph.D., Weiss Professor and chair of the department of BioSciences, wondered what would happen if a plant's day-and-night cycle was reversed. Using Arabidopsis plants, Braam and her graduate student Danielle Goodspeed found that if a plant thought it was night, it would not produce enough phytochemicals to ward off insects that attack during the day. "Eventually, we realized that the plants' clocks were controlling the level of defense chemicals, so at the time of day the insects eat, the plants accumulated these phytochemi- cals just in case the insects attacked," Braam explained. The Arabidopsis plant is related to cruci- ferous vegetables like cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower, so Braam's team headed off to the market to buy cabbage heads. They brought cabbages back to the lab, reset their clocks and confirmed their theory that even cabbages Our research showed it could make sense to eat the cabbage in the middle of the day when we found that the phytochemicals implicated in anti-cancer efforts were the most abundant. — JANET BRAAM, PH.D. Weiss Professor and Chair of Rice University's Department of BioSciences Janet Braam, Ph.D., shopping for vegetables from Atkinson Farms at the Rice University Farmers Market.