How Broccoli Could Fight Cancer

By Author: Dr Machione
Total Articles: 9
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Researchers in the UK report that squeezing a few moreportions of broccoli into the weekly diet could protect menfrom prostate cancer.
This news runs along the same line we've known for ages: ahealthy diet high in vegetables and fruit could reduce therisk of cancer. But this new study goes a tad deeper thanothers in the past, by identifying just how a vegetable mightdo so.
And they went to one of the best around: broccoli. Thestudy suggests that a chemical within broccoli triggers a
flurry of genetic changes in the body. Some of these genesfight cancer. Some, which can dangerously lead to tumors,are switched off. That is double-pronged cancer prevention.In the study, 24 men were split into two groups. All hadpre-cancerous lesions that raise the risk of prostate cancer.The men consumed either four extra helpings of broccolieach week or four extra helpings of peas. It lasted a year.
The researchers found that men eating broccoli hadhundreds of genetic changes shown to help prevent cancer.
Broccoli is a cruciferous vegetable, a family that includescabbage, most leafy greens, cauliflower and Brussels
...
... sprouts. Most of these vegetables, the researchers say, will likely contain the chemical in question: isothiocyanate. Butbroccoli, in living up to its powerful status, has an extra-strong type of the chemical, called "sulforaphane."
This may make broccoli the best vegetable to help shield the body from tumors. Men eating broccoli had about 500positive gene changes. They were not tracked long enoughto see who actually got cancer and who didn't, but theresults make it clear that eating more broccoli could only bring very positive effects to the body.
Though they focused on prostate cancer specifically, the researchers said that cruciferous vegetables probably work in different ways all throughout the body. There is no need to totally switch your diet. Simple additions are the way togo in humanity's ongoing attempts to prevent cancer.
So, while we know we should eat our vegetables, now there is one concrete reason why.
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