did you know? any edible part of a plant is called a vegetable and why fruits and vegetables are important to overall health

There are at least four definitions relating to fruits and vegetables:

• Fruit (scientific): the ovary of a seed-bearing plant,
• Fruit (culinary): any edible part of a plant with a sweet flavor,
• Vegetable: any edible part of a plant with a savory flavor.
• Vegetable (legal): commodities that are taxed as vegetables in a particular jurisdiction

In everyday, grocery-store, culinary language, the words "fruit" and "vegetable" are mutually exclusive; plant products that are called fruit are hardly ever classified as vegetables, and vice versa. For scientists, the word "fruit" has a precise botanical meaning (a part that developed from the ovary of a flowering plant), which is considerably different from its common meaning, and includes many poisonous fruits. While peaches, plums, and oranges are "fruit" in both senses, many items commonly called "vegetables" — such as eggplants, bell peppers, and tomatoes — are technically fruits, while cereals are both a fruit and a vegetable, as well as some spices like black pepper and chillies. Some plant products, such as corn or peas, may be considered vegetables only while still unripe.
The question of whether the tomato is a fruit or a vegetable found its way into the United States Supreme Court in 1893. The court ruled unanimously in Nix v. Hedden that a tomato is correctly identified as, and thus taxed as, a vegetable, for the purposes of the 1883 Tariff Act on imported produce. The court did acknowledge, however, that, botanically speaking, a tomato is a fruit.^[8]
Languages other than English often have categories that can be identified with the common English meanings of "fruit" and "vegetable", but their precise meaning often depends on local culinary traditions. For example, in Brazil the avocado is traditionally consumed with sugar as a dessert or in milk shakes, and hence regarded as a fruit; whereas in other countries (including Mexico and the United States) it is used in salads and dips, and hence considered a vegetable.^[citation



Nutrition

^{Vegetables (and some fruit) for sale on a street in Guntur, India}

^{Vegetables are eaten in a variety of ways, as part of main meals and as snacks. The nutritional content of vegetables varies considerably, though generally they contain little protein or fat, and varying proportions of vitamins, provitamins, dietary minerals, fiber and carbohydrates. Vegetables contain a great variety of other phytochemicals, some of which have been claimed to have antioxidant, antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral and anticarcinogenic properties.
However, vegetables often also contain toxins and antinutrients such as α-solanine, α-chaconine, enzyme inhibitors (of cholinesterase, protease, amylase, etc.), cyanide and cyanide precursors, oxalic acid, and more.Depending on the concentration, such compounds may reduce the edibility, nutritional value, and health benefits of dietary vegetables. Cooking and/or other processing may be necessary to eliminate or reduce them.
Eating diets containing sufficient amounts of fruits and vegetables can help lower your risk of heart diseases and type 2 diabetes. Doing this may also protect against some cancers and decrease bone loss. Also, getting potassium (plentiful in both fruits and vegetables) will help prevent the forming of kidney stones. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegetable}   

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