Available Articles: |
 Back
to Main |
BROCCOLI
One of the first vegetables found to have anticancer properties, broccoli is still thought to be among the most potent, though its cousins cabbage, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, and bok choy probably aren't far behind.
At Johns Hopkins University, pharmacologist Paul Talalay has shown that sulforaphane, a substance in broccoli (and broccoli sprouts), stimulates the body to produce its own antioxidant enzyme, which can help fend off tumors by protecting DNA from damage. In Talalay's lab, rats fed an extract of broccoli and then exposed to a strong carcinogen were far less likely to develop cancer than rats on a standard diet. Even when the broccoli eaters did get cancer, their tumors were smaller and took longer to grow than those in the other rats.
The bottom line:
One leading supplement on the market promises to contain 500 mg of broccoli extract, including 200 mcg of sulforaphane. That's about what you get from a standard half-cup serving of broccoli. Researchers hope that one day doctors will be able to prescribe purified forms of sulforaphane and other phytochemicals for people who run a particularly high risk of contracting certain cancers.
But the pill delivers neither broccoli's fiber -- which helps protect against heart disease and possibly breast cancer -- nor most of the vegetable's vitamins. For now, eating crucifers (that is, veggies in the cabbage family) is still the best way to get the goods.
|
|
|
