Research - broccoli - heart disease

Research reveals a broccoli boost for arteries

New British Heart Foundation (BHF) research from Imperial College London may have revealed why vegetables are good for the heart. The findings suggest that a chemical found in vegetables such as broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower, can boost a natural defence mechanism to protect arteries from disease.
Dr Paul Evans, from the National Heart and Lung Institute at Imperial College London, who led the research team, said: “We found that the innermost layer of cells at branches and bends of arteries lack the active form of Nrf2, which may explain why they are prone to inflammation and disease. Treatment with the natural compound sulforaphane reduced inflammation at the high-risk areas by 'switching on' Nrf2.
“Sulforaphane is found naturally in broccoli, so our next steps include testing whether simply eating broccoli, or other vegetables in their ‘family’, has the same protective effect. We also need to see if the compound can reduce the progression of disease in affected arteries.”

Broccoli May Help Battle Breast Cancer

Broccoli May Help Battle Breast Cancer:

"It appears if you repeat a truth often enough it becomes a fact" says expert London Nutritionist Yvonne Bishop-Weston following a new study published on the benefits of broccoli

May 2010 ( Clinical Cancer Research)

A compound derived from broccoli appears to be able to kill breast cancer stem cells, which help tumors grow, according to a new study. But it's too soon to know if the compound would work in people. And the amount tested is larger than the amount people could consume in their diet.

"Tests on human breast cancer cells in the laboratory resulted in decreases in cancer stem cells" reported study co-author Duxin Sun, an associate professor of pharmaceutical sciences at the University of Michigan College of Pharmacy and Dr. Max S. Wicha, an oncology professor and director of the university's Comprehensive Cancer Center, and a study co-author.

2002

Way back in 2002 a doctor speaking at the American Institute for Cancer Research on diet and nutrition, Paul Talalay, MD, from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md., said that cauliflower and broccoli contain a compound that increases an enzyme called sulforaphane in the body. This enzyme helps protect cells and prevents their genes from turning into cancer.

2000

"Men who eat plenty of green vegetables, such as cabbage and broccoli, can lower their risk of prostate cancer by 41 percent" said study co-author Jennifer Cohen, PhD, MPH, of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.
Dr. Cohen and her colleagues evaluated the total fruit and vegetable consumption of 1,230 men between the ages of 40 and 64 and found men who ate three or more servings of vegetables a day had a 35 percent lower risk of prostate cancer, compared with men who ate fewer than two servings per day. Of the men studied, half had been diagnosed with prostate cancer and half were randomly selected.