Food Synergy: 8 Healthy Food Pairings That Are Even Better Together

Pairing the perfect foods is good for more than just your tastebuds.

In fact, the right combinations can take a healthy food and kick its disease-fighting powers into overdrive.

Most credit researcher David Jacobs, Ph.D. for dubbing this concept "food synergy." The basic idea is that foods affect our health in a number of complex ways, and we may get even more bang for our buck when certain foods are eaten together.

In the past 10 years, research has come a long way toward understanding just how food synergy works, according to Elaine Magee, M.P.H., R.D., author of a recent book on the topic. "A decade ago, we didn't even know about phytochemicals like lycopene (the one that has made tomatoes famous) or anthocyanins and pterostilbene (which have propelled blueberries into the news)," she wrote for WebMD, and there is still much more we don't know.

The research does suggest that the following foods are better together. Do you already eat any of these pairings? Let us know in the comments.