Immunity. Strength. Health.

Immunity-building diets -- blueprints based on the philosophy that the foods we eat can determine how well we're able to fend off disease, beginning with the common cold -- are attracting lots of attention in some parts of the country.

In Las Vegas, not so much. The valley is almost legendary for its shortage of vegetarian/health-food-oriented restaurants, and mainstream spots aren't always successful in serving that market. One Strip restaurant that had offered a macrobiotic meal is taking it off the menu for lack of interest.

There are, to be sure, pockets of true believers. One thing there's not much of is consensus on the specifics of an immunity-building diet. But local experts do agree on one thing: Good food is good for you.

"In order to remain healthy, eating a variety of fruits and vegetables gives us that complexity of phytochemicals that help our bodies stay strong and healthy," said Mary Wilson, a registered dietitian and extension nutrition specialist with the University of Nevada Cooperative Extension.

Chef Tina Martini and Lu V. -- two local advocates for healthier diets -- would seem to agree.

"Each (food) has its own profile and benefit," said Martini, whose "Martini Time" cooking-demonstration show with a strong nutritional focus is presented at M Resort Wednesdays through Sundays. "As long as we make sure we have a wide variety of foods close to nature every day, we're going to hit all of those phytochemicals, micronutrients and macronutrients."

Lu V., who doesn't use a last name and who is a co-owner of both Go Raw Cafe locations in the valley, follows the same philosophy.

"Pretty much everything we offer is immunity-building," she said. "It's just designed to fuel our bodies with the fuel that we're supposed to be fueling with."

But there Martini and Lu V. diverge. While touting the free-radical-fighting merits of broccoli, for example, Martini said it should be eaten cooked.

"What we're finding is that cooked is more efficient and more easily broken down by the body," she said. "Put a nice light steam on it or a nice saute and some olive oil. Having some fat with that is only going to encourage the uptake. A little bit of cheddar cheese sauce, olive oil, a little bit of clarified butter-- uptaking the calcium, because plant calcium is much more usable to the human body than animal calcium."

In the case of iron, Martini said, it's the opposite, with animals being a better source of iron than plants.

"It's a good argument for having balance in our diet instead of just being a vegetarian or just being a carnivore," Martini said.

Which probably sounds like heresy to Lu V., whose restaurants serve only food that's both raw and vegan.

"When you're eating foods that are whole, natural, organic and vegan, you're just giving the best-quality ingredients to yourself and just getting the most benefit from it," she said.

Then there's Davinder Saini, a partner in Origin India restaurant. While much research on immunity-building foods is being done, Saini said, Indians have been following the principles for about 2,000 years. For instance, he noted, turmeric has long been thought to be beneficial to the immune system, and scientific research has supported its benefits in reducing the risk of cancer and Alzheimer's disease.

"In the last 20 years or so, a lot of doctors and some pharmaceutical companies started looking into these," Saini said of traditional Indian spices that also include cumin and cardamom. "They started looking at it from a more scientific point of view and isolating components that help people." Of the hitherto anecdotal evidence, he said, "although it's anecdotal, it's been used for a long time and obviously has some effect."

James Boyer, executive chef of the Canyon Ranch SpaClub restaurants at the Palazzo and The Venetian, illustrates that the subject of immunity-building foods is extremely nuanced. Tea, he noted, has been shown to help increase T-cells. "That helps in fighting disease through interferon, which is a chemical in the body. Not only does that boost the immune system, it helps to fight disease. If you can boost your T-cells, it basically makes them more aggressive. Not only does it help the immunity, but they think that it helps in fighting cancer, all sorts of things."

Beef, Boyer said, contains zinc, which helps strengthen white blood cells to fight infection. Mushrooms also support white blood cells, he said, and fish high in Omega-3 fatty acids also boost T-cells.

Lu V. said she has seen much more interest in immunity-building diets, and that Go Raw's location at 2910 Lake East Drive offers monthly food-prep classes because of the interest.

"This is our eighth year; we are definitely seeing growth every year, consistently," she said. People want to stay healthy, so they're going to stick to the prevention side of health, rather than getting sick and having to get themselves back into good health: 'I can either take this chemical pill or I can eat these super-healthy foods and get the same result.' "

While he said he believes the topic is mostly targeted by a niche market, Boyer does see increased interest.

"The demographic is growing of people who are more interested in food to feed their body the right way," he said. "As you see Whole Foods and Sunflower growing, then you see the popularity growing because these people carry more natural, more healthy foods.

"There are people on one end who just don't care at all, and on the other end are the extremists who think that food can cure everything -- hard-core granola people.

"I think somewhere in the middle you can still enjoy your food, you don't have to look at your food as medicine. As long as you treat it with respect and you're using foods that are not overly processed, food's good for you."

Contact reporter Heidi Knapp Rinella at hrinella@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0474.