Cruciferous vegetables are the most micronutrient dense of all vegetables and have been called “the most powerful anticancer foods in existence.”
Joel Fuhrman, M.D.
So what is a cruciferous vegetable? Cruciferous vegetables include broccoli, cabbage, arugula, radishes, collards, bok-choy, kale, kohlrabi, watercress, rutabaga, brussel sprouts, turnips and wasabi. A serving size for this food group is a half-cup and it is recommended that we eat at least one serving every day.
As Dr. Fuhrman reports, cruciferous vegetables contain a powerful cancer fighter that is unique to this group of foods. It is the glucosinolates in these vegetables that help fight against cancer as well as give them their many other powerful health benefits. It is important to understanding how glucosinolates work in order to gain the benefits of this class of vegetables. While the full explanation is below, in short, you have to chew raw cruciferous vegetables, or cut them up and let them sit for 40 minutes before you cook them. If you don’t, many of their powerful health benefits are lost.
How do cruciferous vegetables benefit our body?
Time and time again, research into cruciferous vegetables reports favorable results benefiting areas all around our body. Naturally high in fiber, Vitamin C, bioavailable calcium and Vitamin K, these vegetables help to protect areas from our eyes to our bones and even our brain. Research into cruciferous vegetables is ongoing with some focuses further along than others. Below are some of the initial benefits that have been discovered.
Help To Detoxify Our Body
These foods contain substances that boost the liver detox enzymes and improve the body’s detoxification function.
The glucosinolates in cruciferous vegetables are substances that specifically turn on many of the genes that regulate detoxification. The more of them you consume the more powerfully you will activate your detoxification process.
Safeguard our DNA
Cruciferous vegetables help to protect our DNA from damage often caused by the chemicals our bodies are frequently exposed to.
Cruciferous vegetables contain the mineral folate which helps to protect our DNA from oxidative stress.
Protects Against Cancer
The same glucosinolates that help to detoxify foreign substances also help women safely metabolize and eliminate the estrogen their bodies produce and protect against breast cancer.
When glucosinolates are broken down (either during food preparation or through chewing and digestion), they form compounds called isothiocyanates and indoles that have been shown in numerous studies to inhibit the development of cancer.
Cruciferous vegetables have the potential to stop the metastastic spread of cancer.
Studies have shown that less than a single serving a day of cruciferuos vegetables may cut the risk of prostate cancer progression by more than half. It has similar benefits towards other types of cancer.
They help to prevent lymphoma, been found to kill human leukemia cells, target breast cancer stem cells, and reduce the risk of prostate cancer progression. The component responsible for these benefits is thought to be sulforaphane, which is formed almost exclusively in cruciferous vegetables.
From A to Z
The sulforaphane protects areas all around our body. The benefits appear to include reducing nasal allergy symptoms, helping to manage type 2 diabetes, improving digestion and reducing constipation, reducing blood pressure, protecting our skin against sun damage, protecting our heart, and helping to maintain healthy eyes and bones.
Individuals with Autism
Recent research from Harvard University and Johns Hopkins University recently found that cruciferous vegetables appear to help with Autism.
It is theorized that, likely due to sulforaphane’s role as a detoxicant, these vegetables may help to improve social interaction, behavior and verbal communication.
While additional research is needed in this area, initial positive social results were found after only a few weeks of eating 3 servings of cruciferous vegetables a day.
How do cruciferuos vegetables work and why is this important to understand?
The way in which cruciferous vegetables work in our body is critical to benefitting from their awesome power.
The health benefit is like a chemical flare reaction. It requires the mixing of a precursor compound (glucoraphanin) with an enzyme called myrosinase. The enzyme myrosinase is inactivated when cruciferous vegetables are cooked, however biting into raw broccoli is like snapping a chemical flare. When raw broccoli is chopped or chewed the precursor mixes with the myrosinase enzyme and sulforaphane is created as the vegetables sit on the cutting board or lie in your upper stomach waiting to be digested. Unfortunately, the enzyme is destroyed when you cook cruciferous vegetables and the sulforaphane can’t be produced. But wait, there’s a trick for this!
Prior to cooking, cut up your cruciferous vegetables and then wait for 40 minutes. At this point the sulforaphane has been made so the enzyme is no longer needed to achieve the benefit and you can cook them however you would like. But, what if you don’t have 40 minutes to let the vegetables sit? Fortunately, you still have one more opportunity to realize the benefits. After cooking, sprinkle mustard powder (mustard greens are also a cruciferous vegetable) on the vegetables and the sulforaphane will be produced. Then you can enjoy them all you want knowing you are doing your best to take care of your body.
~Happy Eating!
