Cancer And Cruciferous Vegetables

This incredible compound in broccoli and kale can stop tumors from growing:

In American households, it’s common to find mothers encouraging their children to eat their greens. Most children and even some adults refuse to eat vegetables, missing out on the many health benefits they can provide. Now, recent evidence suggests a link between cruciferous vegetables – like broccoli and kale – and preventing cancer.

A study published in the journal Science identified a compound, indole-3-carbinol (I3C), found in vegetables such as broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and turnips, which suppressed tumor growth in mouse models of prostate cancer.

Eat your leafy greens to combat cancer

Cancer starts developing with changes in a single cell or even a small group of cells. These cells will start to grow rapidly and begin invading other tissues. The World Health Organization reports that cancer is the second leading cause of death, causing about 9.6 million deaths worldwide.

Previous research has already established that cruciferous vegetables like cabbage, kale, and broccoli have cancer-fighting compounds that can interfere with genes that promote cancer growth. (Related: Cruciferous vegetables proven to prevent breast cancer.)

For the current sturdy, a research team led by Pier Paolo Pandolfi, a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, explored the functions of PTEN, a phosphatase and tumor-suppressing protein whose activity is the most frequently deleted, mutated, or deactivated in human cancers. According to Pandolfi, this gene is “one of the most important tumor suppressors in the history of cancer genetics.” (MORE)