Eat Your Broccoli - It Prevents Breast Cancer

Broccoli Photo © Microsoft

Get out your vegetable steamers and your favorite sauce - broccoli now has the honor of being scientifically proven to prevent breast cancer! Broccoli and broccoli sprouts, two cruciferous vegetables, contain isothiocyanates, which inhibit cell proliferation. "Breast cancer, the second leading cause of cancer death in women, can be protected against by eating cruciferous vegetables such as cabbage and near relatives of cabbage such as broccoli and cauliflower," said study co-author Olga Azarenko, a graduate student at UCSB. Scientists in the UC Santa Barbara Departments of Biochemistry, Pharmacology, and Biology have published a research paper on their study of anticancer compounds in cruciferous vegetables, showing how these everyday vegetables can prevent and fight breast cancer in ways similar to Taxol and Vincristine - two chemotherapy drugs used to stop tumor cell division. I've always liked broccoli, and curried cauliflower, but now I have more reason to be sure they appear on my plate often!