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LinkedInPosts Tagged: brussels sprouts
Cruciferous vegetables help fight cancer
The role fresh vegetables play in maintaining good health is no secret. But, according to a University of California scientist, eating from a particular group of vegetables can help protect the body from lethal illnesses like cancer.
These extraordinary vegetables are in the cruciferous family - including broccoli, kale, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts.
UC Berkeley toxicology professor Len Bjeldanes says cruciferous vegetables are good sources of the natural chemical compound diindolilmentano, or DIM. DIM suppressed harmful cells in studies with rats and Bjeldanes believes it can have the same effect in combating cancer in humans.
"We were really surprised to see that we've got about an 80 percent reduction in the amount of virus that could proliferate in those animals when we gave them the combination with DIM," said Bjeldanes, who is conducting the experiments with colleague Gary Firestone, a molecular biologist. "This is really a very strong indication that this is helping the body deal with these immune insults, like in this case a virus."
Bjeldanes said prostate cancer is sensitive to androgen, a male hormone.
“This makes our finding that cruciferous plants contain an anti-androgen important,” he said. "DIM is the first example of a naturally occurring anti-androgen from plants that we know of. So this is quite remarkable."
DIM may also play a role in suppressing breast cancer.
"We had been studying for some time the effects of the vegetables on mammary and breast cancer and there's a fair amount of information that says indeed, they are in fact protective of mammary and breast cancer," he said.
The scientists will next determine whether protective effects of DIM found in experiments with rats will manifest themselves in human studies.
Bejeldanes cautions that eating cruciferous vegetables is not a miracle cure for cancer. But he encourages people to include vegetables rich in DIM in their diets. The vegetables will give a boost to the body’s immune system, enabling it to defend against all manner of illnesses.
"These are chemicals that are important in activating the immune response and help the body fight the bad guys, like bacteria or viruses,” he said.
To get the most immune-boosting compounds from broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables, nutrition experts suggest eating them raw, in salads, or lightly steamed. Boiling the vegetables destroys more than half the nutrients.
(Original article by Alberto Hauffen. Adapted to English by Jeannette Warnert.)
Romanesco cauliflower is one of the more unusual cruciferous vegetables.
Love those greens
Remember when George Herbert Walker Bush, the 41st president of the United States, declared he didn’t like broccoli and declined to eat it?
“I do not like broccoli,” said Bush, who served as President from 1989 to 1993. “And I haven’t liked it since I was a little kid and my mother made me eat it. And I'm President of the United States and I'm not going to eat any more broccoli.”
Well, all the broccoli-haters out there need to come up with some different anti-broccoli strategies.
Mom was right all along. Broccoli, Brussels sprouts and other cruciferous vegetables in the Brassica family (such as kale, cabbage and collard greens) are good for you.
Especially broccoli and Brussels sprouts, which have anticancer effects and other health benefits, researchers say.
Researchers at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center-Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute have discovered that a substance in broccoli and Brussels sprouts can block the proliferation of cancer cells.
The substance is indole-3-carbinol (I3C).
In research published June 29 in the journal Cancer Prevention Research, the scientists said they discovered a connection between I3C and a molecule called Cdc25A, essential for cell division and proliferation. The research showed that I3C "causes the destruction of that molecule and thereby blocks the growth of breast cancer cells."
Cdc25A, they said, occurs at abnormally high levels in cancers of the breast, prostate, liver, esophagus, endometrium and colon, and in non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and in other diseases such as Alzheimer’s.
“I3C can have striking effects on cancer cells,” said study leader Xianghong Zou, assistant professor of pathology at The Ohio State University Medical Center. A better understanding of this mechanism, he said, "may lead to the use of this dietary supplement as an effective and safe strategy for treating a variety of cancers and other human diseases associated with the overexpression of Cdc25A." (See online news story.)
Grocery stores and farmers' markets need to stock more broccoli and Brussels sprouts this week.
So, how do you prepare these greens? Here are the traditional ways, ala the Betty Crocker cookbook:
Broccoli: For a pound and a half: Remove large leaves and ends of tough stalks. If thick, gash stem several times. Boil 10 to 15 minutes. Serve buttered, with salt and pepper. Vary with oregano and lemon juice, Hollandaise sauce, or grated cheese.
Brussel Sprouts: For a pound and a half: Remove discolored leaves and stem ends. Leave whole. Boil 8 to10 minutes. Serve buttered, with salt and pepper. Vary with garlic salt, basil, dill, caraway, savory or cumin.
The cookbook, Country Cooking…California Style, published by the California Farm Bureau Women, includes several recipes for broccoli and one for Brussels sprouts. After all, California grows more of these two vegetables than any other state in the country.
Here are two Country Cooking recipes:
Walnut Broccoli
3 heads broccoli, chopped
1/2 cup butter
4 tablespoons flour
1-1/2 teaspoons powdered chicken stock base
2 cups milk
2/3 cup water
6 tablespoons butter
2/3 package seasoned stuffing
2/3 cup walnuts, chopped
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Cook broccoli just under tender. Drain and put in flat 2-quart casserole. Melt 1/2 cup butter, blend in flour and cook gently over low heat. Add chicken stock base. Gradually add milk, cooking until smooth and thick; pour over broccoli. Heat water and 6 tablespoons butter until melted. Pour over stuffing mix and toss; add nuts. Top broccoli with stuffing. Bake 30 minutes at 350 degrees. The amount of water used with stuffing mix may have to be adjusted to make a moist combination. Serves 12.
Coastal Brussels Sprouts Piquant
3 cups Brussels sprouts
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup water
2 teaspoons horseradish
2 tablespoons grated onion
1/2 cup bread crumbs
Preheat over to 375 degrees. Cook sprouts in rapidly boiling water until barely tender. Drain and transfer to shallow casserole. Combine mayonnaise, water, horseradish and onion. Pour over sprouts. Top with bread crumbs. Bake 20 minutes. Serves four.
Broccoli and Brussels sprouts
