Bravo for broccoli: Vegetable packed with nutrients and may reduce risk of cancer

NEW YORK – Children may not want to hear this, but broccoli more than deserves its place on people’s plates. The florets and stems are filled with nutrients that help keep the heart and bones healthy – and may reduce the risk of cancer.

“Broccoli is a multitasking vegetable,” said Dr Emily Ho, a professor of nutrition and director of the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University. It has a range of vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals that give your body a boost.

Here are some of the vegetable’s best attributes.

It has a cancer-fighting compound

Ever scrunched up your nose at broccoli’s sulphuric smell?

Along with cauliflower, brussels sprouts and other cruciferous vegetables, broccoli is a source of a sulphur-based nutrient called sulforaphane. It is the compound behind broccoli’s odour and slightly bitter flavour. It also has anti-cancer properties, scientists believe.

Research suggests the sulforaphane in broccoli could help the body produce more of the enzymes that get rid of toxins such as air pollutants and cigarette smoke, Dr Ho said.

Sulforaphane is an antioxidant that can protect your body from inflammation. The theory is that broccoli is protecting cells from the inflammation that promotes the growth of cancer, said Dr Ingrid Adams, a registered dietitian and associate professor of medical dietetics at Ohio State University.

In a recent analysis, 17 out of 23 studies found associations between eating broccoli and having lower risks of common cancers, such as lung, colon and breast cancer. Taken together, the studies suggested that people who ate broccoli at least once a week were 36 per cent less likely to develop cancer than those who did not.

Still, researchers have not definitively proven that broccoli helps prevent cancer, said Dr Trygve Tollefsbol, a distinguished professor of biology at the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

People who regularly eat broccoli tend to have other healthy habits too, he said, so studies cannot single out broccoli as the reason someone does not develop a disease.

It is good for your heart

The vitamin K in broccoli helps your body regulate blood circulation and clotting, said dietitian Anna L. Fogel, from Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. Dietary guidelines generally recommend that adult women consume around 90 micrograms and men consume around 120 micrograms of vitamin K a day. One cup of chopped raw broccoli has about 93mcg.

A cup of broccoli also contains a decent amount (288mcg) of potassium. Potassium can help lower high blood pressure, Dr Adams said.

Broccoli is high in fibre as well, which can lower bad cholesterol levels and risk of coronary heart disease.

It may help with bone strength

Those high levels of vitamin K could also benefit your bones, said Dr Ho. The vitamin plays a key role in activating several of the proteins that form bones and keep them strong.

The vitamin C in broccoli is also important. It helps with bone mineralisation, which keeps bones from becoming brittle, in part by stimulating collagen production. One cup of raw broccoli contains more vitamin C than a cup of grapefruit.

Is there a best way to eat broccoli?

Just avoid boiling or overcooking it, said experts.

Broccoli contains an active enzyme, called myrosinase, that is released when you chew and digest it. Myrosinase activates the broccoli’s sulforaphane, but if broccoli is cooked too long, you risk losing much of its myrosinase.

It is fine as long as there is still a slight crunch to the vegetable, Dr Ho said. “If it’s not fully mushy, you still have some live cell walls, which means there is still some active enzyme.”

There is another reason that boiling broccoli is not the first choice of experts. Some of broccoli’s water-soluble vitamins, like vitamin C, can leach out during the boiling process, Ms Fogel said. NYTIMES