Broccoli Juice

If you want to do a little name-dropping at your next Broccoli Awareness Convention, there are two celebrities that will be sure to get you through the front door. Sulforaphane and indoles are two very compelling reasons to add some broccoli to your next batch of veggie juice.

In the 1940s, the diagnosis of cancer was almost always a death sentence. Scientists looked to medicine and not food to cure the rising epidemic of cancer. Yet, Dr. Paul Talaly from Johns Hopkins University began looking where no one else dared. His idea was a simple one: to find a food that would not just protect from a particular cancer but be an effective defense against all types of cancers. He hoped to find a single food that would protect against the development of the big four: breast cancer, colon cancer, lung cancer and stomach cancer. Instead of looking for some exotic tropical plant, he wanted to find something that everyone was already eating, that was cheap and available all year. So he focused his trained eye on the simple broccoli.

In 1992, Talaly went live with the discovery of sulforaphane, a powerful phytochemical. He discovered that sulforaphane actually increases the levels of phase-2 enzymes, the FBI agents of human cells. This was exciting because phase-2 enzymes seek, apprehend and remove damaging carcinogens from the body.

In a remarkable study confirming that how you eat can not only increase but also decrease your chance of developing cancer, Talaly opened a whole new door of understanding about the connection between nutrition and health.

To add to sulforaphane’s superstar status, French scientists have recently uncovered its ability to cause both cell cycle arrest and programmed cell death in abnormal cells. Both are essential in shutting down the growth of cancer tumors.

Our number two star, indoles, is another cancer fighter, especially in protecting from breast cancer. The estrogen receptor cells are especially susceptible to cancer, and the introduction of estrogen to these cells can trigger the development of cancer. For estrogen to function, it must dock into one of these receptor cells, and they fit like a key. The indole-3-carbinol found in broccoli is shaped just like estrogen and will harmlessly fit into these tiny docks, displacing the estrogen and protecting the estrogen receptor cell. This is precise protection that makes nanotechnology blush with envy. Also indole-3-carbinol regulates the production of estrogen, lowering the body’s manufacturing of harmful estrogen and increasing the levels of less cancer-causing estrogen.

Unlike drugs, where it is easy to overmedicate, you can never eat or drink too much broccoli. More is better, so eat it regularly or drink it green, and lots. George H. W. Bush’s mother should have run for president.