Broccoli Prevents Cancer!!!!

Broccoli is a well known cruciferous vegetable. Broccoli is a member of the cabbage family which also includes cauliflower, cabbage, Brussels Sprouts, Chinese cabbage, collards, kale and mustard greens, to name a few. All of these vegetables are similar to broccoli in nutritional value and contain the same cancer fighting substances. However, broccoli has been more commonly studied.

Broccoli contains nutrients and other important substances. It is rich in vitamin C and soluble fiber, but what have scientists excited are other nutrients including diindolylmethane, sulforaphane and selenium that are produced from substances called glucosinolates. Numerous studies have found these substances to have potent anti-cancer properties, particularly with cancers of the breast, prostate, and lungs in smokers. The sulforaphane in broccoli may even reverse heart damage caused by diabetes.

Laboratory Studies with animals and with cancer cells, substances in broccoli thought to be responsible for fighting cancer have blocked cancer causing agents. Studies in humans are needed to see if eating broccoli has the same effects and in what amounts.
U.S. researchers say they have discovered a biochemical basis to explain broccoli's cancer-fighting ability. Researchers led by Fung-Lung Chung of the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center at Georgetown University said substances in broccoli, cauliflower, watercress and other cruciferous vegetables contain compounds called isothiocyanates that seem to stop the growth of cancer by encouraging cancer cell death, apoptosis. Chung and colleagues say the way isothiocyanates may work is by assisting the tumor suppressor gene p53, which helps prevents cancer growth when normal but not when mutated.

The study, published in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, demonstrates certain natural-occurring isothiocyanates leave normal p53 alone but selectively bind with and deplete mutant p53 which helps induce apoptosis. "Collectively, this study shows that mutant p53 depletion may be an important novel target for cancer chemoprevention and therapy by natural and synthetic isothiocyanates," the study says.