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Broccoli May Help Boost Aging Immune SystemBroccoli. (Credit: Image courtesy of University of California - Los Angeles)ScienceDaily (Mar. 10, 2008) — Eat your broccoli! That's the advice from UCLA researchers who have found that a chemical in broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables may hold a key to restoring the body's immunity, which declines as we age. Published in the online edition of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, the study findings show that sulforaphane, a chemical in broccoli, switches on a set of antioxidant genes and enzymes in specific immune cells, which then combat the injurious effects of molecules...

Extract Of Broccoli Sprouts May Protect Against Bladder Cancer ScienceDaily (Feb. 29, 2008) — A concentrated extract of freeze dried broccoli sprouts cut development of bladder tumors in an animal model by more than half, according to a report in the March 1 issue of Cancer Research. This finding reinforces human epidemiologic studies that have suggested that eating cruciferous vegetables like broccoli is associated with reduced risk for bladder cancer, according to the study's senior investigator, Yuesheng Zhang, MD, PhD, professor of oncology at Roswell Park Cancer Institute. "Although this is an animal study, it provides potent evidence that eating...

How broccoli can reduce risk of a heart attack By Nic Fleming, Medical Correspondent Last Updated: 1:42am GMT 22/01/2008 Eating steamed broccoli reduces the risk of a heart attack by boosting the body's ability to fight off cell damage, researchers have found. Previous studies have found people who eat broccoli, especially if raw or lightly cooked, are at lower risk of heart disease and some cancers. Now scientists have found a clear link between high levels of certain substances found in the vegetable and reduced damage caused by hearts being deprived of oxygen. Normal biological processes associated with eating and...

Broccoli juice 'better than sunscreens' Last Updated: 2:41am BST 23/10/2007 Broccoli juice is better than conventional sunscreens when it comes to protecting against the sun's harmful ultraviolet rays, research has shown. Tests on six volunteers exposed to pulses of UV radiation showed the extract reduced sunburn symptoms by up to 78 per cent. Conventional sunscreens used in the same experiments were essentially ineffective. The ointment was made from extracts of three-day-old broccoli sprouts rich in protective compounds called sulphoraphanes. Unlike a normal sunscreen, it does not absorb UV light to prevent it entering the skin. Instead, it works inside the...

Eating more cruciferous vegetables like broccoli and cauliflower is associated with a reduced risk of aggressive prostate cancer. Several studies have demonstrated an association between eating vegetables and a reduced risk of prostate cancer, but study results have not been consistent and many have not investigated the association among patients with aggressive prostate cancer. Victoria Kirsh, Ph.D., of Cancer Care Ontario in Toronto and colleagues evaluated the possible association in 1,338 prostate cancer patients diagnosed in the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial. Each of the men completed a 137-item food-frequency questionnaire. They found that eating fruits and...

Broccoli and tomato -- two vegetables known to help fight cancer -- are more effective against prostate cancer if they're eaten together as part of a daily diet than if they're eaten alone, a new study with rats suggests.University of Illinois researchers fed a diet containing 10 percent broccoli powder and 10 percent tomato powder to a group of rats that had been implanted with prostate cancer cells. Other groups of rats received either tomato powder or broccoli powder alone; a supplemental dose of lycopene (the red pigment in tomatoes believed to be an anti-cancer agent); or finasteride, a drug...

Vegetable Compounds Combat Cancer In the ongoing war on cancer, researchers have enlisted a new series of soldiers: roots and vegetables. New findings presented at the American Association for Cancer Research show that a grocery list of vegetables including ginger, hot peppers and cauliflower show promise as cancer-combating agents. Pharmacologist Shivendra Singh of the University of Pittsburgh and his colleagues showed that a chemical released when cruciferous vegetables--such as cauliflower, broccoli and cabbage--are chewed helps control human prostate tumors grafted into mice. Phenethyl-isothiocyanate, or PEITC, prompted the prostate cancer cells to kill themselves in a process called apoptosis. By the...

Broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower: the vegetables that may prevent cancer · Foods contain chemicals that help repair DNA· Study backs link between diet and disease Ian Sample, science correspondent Wednesday February 8, 2006 The Guardian (UK) Natural chemicals found in soya beans and vegetables such as broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower boost the body's ability to repair damaged DNA and may prevent cells turning cancerous, scientists said yesterday. Studies have suggested that eating vegetables appears to provide some protection against certain cancers, but until now the reason why has been a mystery. Researchers at Georgetown University in Washington DC believe the answer...

You may not like it, but broccoli can beat cancer By Roger Highfield, Science Editor (Filed: 07/12/2005) A variety of "super broccoli" has been grown that may boost protection against cancer, scientists said yesterday. The variety has higher levels of sulphoraphane and will help the half of the population which lacks a gene that allows the body to retain the protective plant chemical, they said. Prof Richard Mithen, of the Institute of Food Research in Norwich and the lead scientist on the project, said yesterday: "Eating a few portions of broccoli each week may help to reduce the risk of...

COLUMBUS , Ohio – Researchers have isolated compounds from the vegetable broccoli that they believe may help prevent or slow the progress of bladder cancer. The current work builds on a major study conducted six years ago by Harvard and Ohio State universities that found that men who ate two or more half-cup servings of broccoli per week had a 44 percent lower incidence of bladder cancer compared to men who ate less than one serving each week. “We're starting to look at which compounds in broccoli could inhibit or decrease the growth of cancerous cells,” said Steven Schwartz, a...

UIC Researchers Show How Cancer-preventing Foods Work Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago are unraveling the biochemical mechanism by which functional foods combat cancer."Compounds like sulforaphane in broccoli and resveratrol in wine have been shown to prevent cancer," said Andrew Mesecar, associate professor of pharmaceutical biotechnology in the UIC College of Pharmacy. "They do that by signaling our bodies to ramp up the production of proteins capable of preventing damage to our DNA."We now have a good idea how that signal works."The findings are published in this week's Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of...