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Sauerkraut a Cancer Fighter
Excerpt
By Ross Grant, HealthScoutNews
(HealthScoutNews) -- Here's an excuse
to go out to the ballpark, or at least a Polish deli: Sauerkraut,
that favored hot dog topping, has powerful anti-cancer properties.
Cabbage, the basis of sauerkraut,
is part of a family of vegetables that includes broccoli and Brussels
sprouts, which have long been heralded for their ability to prevent
cancer. However, the fermentation process used to make sauerkraut
appears to unlock even stronger anticarcinogenic elements, according
to a study in the latest issue of the Journal of Agricultural
and Food Chemistry.
"We are finding that fermented
cabbage could be healthier than raw or cooked cabbage, especially
for fighting cancer," says Eeva-Liisa Ryhanen, one of the
paper's authors at MTT Agrifood Research Finland in Jokioinen,
Finland.
The researchers analyzed cabbage before
and after fermentation to see how the elements had changed. They
found the glucosinolates in cabbage dissolved into a class of
enzymes that have been shown in prior studies to prevent cancer,
Ryhanen says.
The family of vegetables cabbage belongs
to helps prevent cancers of the breast, lung and colon, says Leonard
Bjeldanes, a professor of food toxicology with the University
of California at Berkeley.
"The cancer rates come down as
much as 40 percent when you go from low consumption of these vegetables
to high consumption," he says.
While Bjeldanes agrees that fermentation
assists in the breaking down the glucosinolates in cabbage, fermented
foods aren't necessarily better, he says. Pickles and yogurt,
for example, don't appear to prevent cancer.
"Fermentation is used mostly
to preserve the food," he says.
Another researcher, though, found
major differences between the sauerkraut sold in Poland and the
sauerkraut sold in the United States. The American variety had
fewer cancer-fighting elements than its overseas cousin, says
Yeong Ju, a researcher with the University of Illinois.
"The fermentation process can
make a big difference in potency," she says.
Mostly, the difference between the
two cultures is how much cabbage and sauerkraut they eat. In her
1998 study, Ju compared the incidence of breast cancer among Polish
women and Polish immigrants in Michigan. The immigrants were four
to five times more likely to develop cancer than the women who
stayed in Poland. The reason: Polish women eat much more cabbage
and sauerkraut, which inhibits estrogen, thereby slowing down
the development of the cancer, Ju says.
For the Finnish researchers, the
next step is to improve the fermentation process so more beneficial
enzymes are released, Ryhanen says. Besides its anti-cancer agents,
sauerkraut has antibacterial qualities and acids that help the
body digest the cabbage.
What To Do
To learn about how eating vegetables
helps prevent cancer, visit the National
Cancer Institute. Learn about the U.S. government's guidelines
on eating vegetables by visiting the Division
of Cancer Control and Population Sciences.
For more information about sauerkraut,
visit Pickle
Packers International.
Reference
Source 101
For more information on how to prevent other diseases, use
PreventDisease.com's "Quick
Prevention Resources".
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