Broccoli's Strength Against Cancer Varies

Study says plant levels of key disease-fighting compound differ 30-fold. When it comes to fighting cancer, not all broccoli is created equal.

Broccoli contains a compound, glucoraphanin, believed to aid in preventing some types of cancer. But the Agriculture Department studied 71 types of broccoli plants and found a 30-fold difference in the amounts of glucoraphanin. Some had virtually none of it.

While the varieties of broccoli typically sold in supermarkets do not vary that much, they do differ, though consumers and farmers cannot tell the difference without a laboratory testing the broccoli.

Other fruits and vegetables, including tomatoes, garlic and carrots, also contain varying amounts of cancer-fighting chemicals, a fact many shoppers probably do not realize.

Tomatoes offer lycopene, an antioxidant that attacks roaming oxygen molecules, known as free radicals, that are suspected of triggering cancer. The hotter the weather, the more lycopene tomatoes produce. Processing increases lycopene levels further.

"Nearly everything is highly variable in plants," said Paul Talalay, a specialist in cancer prevention at the Johns Hopkins University medical school. "You take the common experience of people who deal with marijuana or opium. They know you have to get the right strain" to get the desired effect.

The Agriculture Department hopes the broccoli research will lead to new hybrids richer in glucoraphanin.

"It's exciting to think about the possibility of identifying specific varieties that may have more cancer protection than others," said nutritionist Melanie Polk of the American Institute for Cancer Research.

"For right now, the bottom line is to eat your broccoli, but don't single it out as the only vegetable you eat."

Studies suggest that people who eat broccoli have a lower incidence of colon and rectal cancer. Sulforaphane, a product of the glucoraphanin in broccoli, induces the production of certain enzymes that can deactivate free radicals and carcinogens. The enzymes have been shown to inhibit the growth of tumors in laboratory animals. Reference Source 99

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