al conditional name green-yellow (or yellow-green) vegetables, which it received from the characteristic color of the productive organs (leaves, fruits, root crops, etc.). For what reason has this group of vegetable plants attracted close attention, and not only vegetable growers, but also doctors? For example, in Japan, the consumption of green-yellow vegetables is controlled not only by the Ministry of Agriculture, but also by the Ministry of Health. This is primarily due to the fact that in the highly developed countries of the world these vegetables are becoming increasingly important in connection with a new approach to the problem of public health, the main goal of which is not treatment, but prevention of diseases, and increasing the resistance of the human body's immune system.
Therefore, numerous scientific studies were carried out, the results of which clearly proved the outstanding role of the green-yellow group in the prevention of various diseases, and with a much higher level of effectiveness than expected, and which can be achieved using medicines synthesized by the chemical industry, and even then when the latter are powerless.
What is the reason for the effect of green-yellow vegetables on the immune system of the human body? First of all, with a high content of "raw" or "fresh" provitamin A - beta-carotene. As it turned out, the functions of vitamin A are much broader than it was originally assumed and about which are known to wide circles of the population: a beneficial effect on the growth processes of the body, human vision, the physical condition of the skin, hair, etc.
A whole series of research works have shown that vitamin A deficiency leads to reduced resistance against infectious diseases. In connection with A-avitaminosis, many doctors also put the formation of stones in the urinary and gall bladders, catarrh and infections of the digestive tract, lungs and a number of diseases. It just so happened, unfortunately, and this is one of the troubles of mankind, that the characteristic properties of any vitamin and its role in the body are still judged, mainly on the basis of those visible disorders that are caused by the absence or lack of this vitamin in food. Moreover, with a lack of vitamin A in food, there are no such vivid symptoms of the disease as in the absence of vitamin C (scurvy), D (rickets), B1 (beriberi). Its deficiency gradually affects the general state of the protective functions of the human body, and with a chronic shortage it leads to much more negative consequences. And vice versa, its regular intake into the human body in "fresh form" maximally mobilizes the immune system of the human body, which becomes immune even to very serious diseases, against which modern medicine is still ineffective.
What vegetables belong to the green-yellow group? The main criterion for including vegetables in this group is the level of beta-carotene content of the order of 600 micrograms (0.6 mg%) per 100 g of raw material. However, there are exceptions. So, for tomato and vegetable peppers, consumed in significant amounts, this kind of "height bar" is lowered to 300-400 micrograms (0.3-0.4 mg%) per 100 g of raw material.
A well-known leader among green-yellow vegetables is orange carrots (carotene), which contains an average of 4.0-7.0 mg% per 100 g of beta-carotene in relation to raw material, and in some special carrots the carotene content reaches 20 -37 mg%. There is a lot of beta-carotene in some pumpkin varieties, but, as it turned out, the most valuable sources of provitamin A are many leafy, green and gingerbread vegetables, as well as some non-traditional plants for nutrition, such as the ornamental crops of perilla and chrysanthemum... Indeed, in terms of beta-carotene content (8.7 mg%), perilla leaves are not inferior even to carrots. Many other vegetable plants new to our country are also rich in carotene.
Vegetables of the green-yellow group, the recommended amount of which in daily consumption should be at least 100 g, as the most valuable sources of beta-carotene should find their 