#623 Justice Beet

What is it about beets? People seem to hate ‘em.
They are almost always found in disproportionate numbers in donation bags for food drives. Worse even than canned peas.
So why is that? And more importantly, why do the people buy the beets in the first place?
Maybe they came with the place. A can so forlorn it was left behind by the last homeowners or renters. So, why did they buy the beets to start with.
I was reading a story recently about super vegetables and I expected to see beets and finally have a reason to open up that can that’s been sitting in my pantry for a decade. But no, I didn’t see a listing, though I should have.
Because they’re purple.
And because red, blue, and purple foods are now thought to be “superfoods” with an newly-identified cancer killing compound called anthocyanin.
It’s supposedly one powerful anti-oxidant.
The foods listed were eggplant, red cabbage, elderberries, bilberries, purple corn and chokeberries. Those are some scary-sounding foods.
The last time I saw purple corn I was on a trip that I don’t want to remember. And bilberries? What the heck is a bilberry? Sounds like a hickie someone named Monica gives.
And please, oh please, never try to feed me something called a chokeberry. Basic rule of survival, never eat things containing the word choke.
In lab tests with human cancer cells, anthocyanins halted the growth of tumors and killed 20 percent of their cells. Rats fed anthocyanin had 60 to 70 percent fewer tumors from colon cancer than those with regular rat chow.
Wow, they have rat chow now, Purina hits the lab market.
So you would think they would have at least mentioned beets in this article. But no. Forlorn and forgotten by science too.
I think the beet industry needs a new ad agency. The beet council or something.
It worked for milk. Modified cow sweat is now on every table in America.
Could Joe Normal resist the appeal? I can see slogan now: Don’t Turnip your nose, you can “Beet” cancer.
America, ya gotta love it