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Page 1 of 2  I can just hear my mother – God rests her soul – saying right now, “I told you so.”
The combo of broccoli and cauliflower, which my mom tried in vain to get me to eat as a kid, may provide enough prowess to make men less likely to develop aggressive prostate cancer, scientists say. Of course, the operative word, as is the case in many medical studies, is “may,” but still, the article in the latest Journal of the National Cancer Institute gives you food – pardon the pun – for thought.
Researchers at Cancer Care Ontario in Toronto came up with the findings after studying more than 2,900 American men 55 to 74 for four years. The men, who didn’t have prostate cancer at the start, completed surveys throughout the period on the foods they ate and underwent regular prostate exams. Cabbage, Brussel sprouts, greens, too! Slightly more than 1,300 of them came down with prostate cancer, including 520 men with aggressive prostate cancer. But men who said they ate broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, and mustard and turnip greens – the very ones my mom tried so hard to get me to eat – were 40 percent less likely to get aggressive prostate cancer, compared to men who shied away from the veggies. However, eating fruits and vegetables in general apparently had no affect on whether they got aggressive or less-aggressive prostate cancer. But cruciferous veggies – the ones mentioned above, especially broccoli and cauliflower – seemingly did the trick. For instance, men who ate cauliflower more than once a week were 52 percent less likely to get aggressive prostate cancer than men who ate the stuff less than once a month. For broccoli, they were 45 percent less likely to get aggressive cancer. Protecting from DNA damage? Victoria Kirsh, the lead researcher at Cancer Care Ontario, says broccoli and cauliflower’s apparent cancer punch comes from compounds that help the body protect cells from DNA damage that ultimately leads to cancer. But here’s the caveat: Kirsh and her team only established a link between eating broccoli and cauliflower with aggressive prostate cancer. They didn’t prove conclusively that the veggies stymie cancer from forming. Despite all the cancer research and billions being spent, nobody has come up with a diet that prevents prostate cancer. So far, they only have said some foods possibly could help you battle prostate cancer. So we continue to hope – and continue to eat our veggies, just like our mothers told us. If you want to bone up on the foods mentioned in this post, scope out Nubella’s 6,000-plus Recipe Database and Healthy Cooking Center.
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