Super-Broccoli Bred to Fight Cancer
May 25 2000. SUPER-BROCCOLI bred from garden broccoli and a
wild Sicilian variety is the latest veggie to hold out anti-cancer promise.
The team that developed super-broccoli at the John Innes Centre at the
Institute of Food Research in Norwich, England now have two commercial
partners.
"The super-broccoli looks and tastes the same as ordinary
broccoli," says Gary Williamson, a member of the research
team that bred the plant. Compared with regular broccoli,
super-broccoli contains 10 to 100 times as much sulphoraphane,
the substance that helps to neutralize cancer-causing
agents in the gut.
This makes super-broccoli as potent as broccoli
sprouts -- and the new broccoli may be more convenient to market,
prepare and eat.
Sulphoraphane is found in all cabbage-family plants (brassicas),
which run from cabbage, collard greens and kale to brussel sprouts
and cauliflower. Broccoli has the most sulphoraphane.
As the broccoli is digested, it releases
sulphoraphane in the gut. This steps up production of glutathione transferases
-- powerful enzymes that destroy cancer-causing substances in foods such
as broiled and barbecued meat.
Trials with human volunteers will begin
soon to see how much effect the super-broccoli has in the gut and
the bloodstream compared with ordinary broccoli.
The researchers hope to show that the super-broccoli is better at protecting
the DNA in cells from aging.
A lot of evidence already suggests that a diet
high in vegetables protects against cancer of the colon. For prostate cancer,
some evidence (like the JNCI article listed in our sidebar) suggests that
it too may be prevented or held in check by a diet high in green vegetables
as well as by lycopene in tomatoes, watermelon,
and strawberries.
The researchers are at pains to stress that super-broccoli
is not a genetically modified (GM) plant. "No gene has been inserted
through genetic modification," Richard Mithen, a research team member,
Told Reuters. "This is classical
breeding. But we speeded that breeding program up by using DNA fingerprinting
technology." ed. by J. Strax
Sources
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 1997 Sep 16;94(19):10367-72 Broccoli sprouts: An exceptionally rich source of inducers of enzymes that protect against chemical carcinogens by Jed W. Fahey, Yuesheng Zhang, and Paul Talalay. Abstract | Full Article>
"all types of cabbages, broccoli, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts, may be protective against cancer due to their glucosinolate content."Adv Exp Med Biol 1999 Brassica vegetables and cancer prevention. van Poppel G, et al. Nutrition and Food Research Institute, The Netherlands.
