HEALTH INFO/NOTES

BROCCOLI PHYTONUTRIENTS AND THERAPEUTICS

THERAPEUTIC BENEFITS OF BROCCOLI - as described in 1985.
Lower risk of cancer – This was the listing for broccoli in a book published in 1985.

We’ll consider some of the benefits ascribed to broccoli up to 1985 and then update the data to 2008.

Broccoli tops the list as the best fighting vegetable against:
Cancer of the esophagus
Cancer of the stomach
Cancer of the colon
Cancer of the lung
Cancer of the larynx
Cancer of the prostate
Cancer of the mouth and
Cancer of the pharynx.

Like many vegetables, broccoli is rich in carotenoids, Vitamins, etc. But what makes broccoli and other members of the Brassica family different is their content of glucosinolates. When eaten, Glucosinolates provides us with Sulforaphane and Indole-3- carbinol … phytochemicals effective against cancer and other diseases.

All other members of the broccoli Cruciferous/Brassica relatives, such as Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, collard greens, kale, kohlrabi, mustard, rutabaga, turnips, bok choy, radish, horde radish, water cress and others, contain such sulfur based chemicals..

There is good, pre 1985 literature pertaining to broccoli and cancer. For example, Dr. S. Graham reported that the risk of rectal and colon cancer was cut significantly, by ½, in people that ate ½ cup of broccoli 21 times a month than in people that ate it less than 10 times a month.

Similarly, broccoli protected smokers and non-smokers against lung cancer. People that ate broccoli, and other dark green vegetables, only 3 times a week had double the risk of developing lung cancer than people what ate the green every day.

Another study done in the 1950s by the Army, reported that broccoli, better than other vegetables studied, protected animals exposed to lethal doses of radiation by some 65%. By the way cabbage, a cousin of broccoli, protected the animals by some 52%.

WHAT should be noted here is that, in the older studies, nothing is mentioned about Sulforaphane, Class II enzymes, glutathione, gene modulation , Broccoli Sprouts, great anti-oxidant properties and protection against heart disease, ulcers etc. THE MOST EXCITING THING ABOUT BROCCOLI IS THE PROPERTIES OF BROCCOLI SPROUTS.THIS INFORMATION WILL FOLLOW SHORTLY.