Stock your fridge with greens that boost your immune system and be protected from cancer

If you’re looking for ways to fend off colds and flu this winter, consider stocking your vegetable crisper with broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage.

Researchers at The Babraham Institute in Cambridge, U.K., have shown that eating green cruciferous vegetables—from bok choy to broccoli—helps maintain a chemical signal in our body that is key to keeping the immune system working at its best.
The immune system is made up of a network of cells, tissues and organs and defends the body every day from bacteria, viruses and other invaders. Special immune cells in the skin and gut – intraepithelial lymphocytes (IELs) – serve as the body’s first line of defence, producing substances harmful to microbes. It turns out that phytochemicals in broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables such as bok choy, cauliflower, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, rapini, turnip, radish, kale and rutabaga, are needed to ensure that IELs work properly.

But there are plenty of other reasons to add cruciferous vegetables to your diet.
Studies found that cruciferous vegetables can prevent heart attack and stroke. The findings of New British Heart Foundation (BHF) research suggest that a chemical found in vegetables such as broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower, can boost a natural defence mechanism to protect arteries from disease. Cruciferous vegetables contain a natural compound called sulforaphane which has been shown to reduce inflammation at the high-risk areas in arteries – the places where plaque builds up and begins to prevent blood flow at critical points in our circulatory system. This condition is called Atherosclerosis and it can lead to angina, heart attack and stroke.
A study conducted on Asian populations who habitually consume a large amount of cruciferous vegetables found that cruciferous vegetable consumption is associated with a reduced risk of total and cardiovascular disease mortality. Fruit and vegetable intake was inversely associated with risk of total mortality in both women and men, and a dose-response pattern was particularly evident for cruciferous vegetable intake. Consistent with the results for total mortality, intakes of total vegetables, particularly cruciferous vegetables, and total fruit were also inversely associated with risk of cardiovascular disease mortality in both women and men. The inverse associations appeared to be somewhat stronger for cardiovascular disease mortality than for total mortality.
Conclusion: these findings support recommendations to increase consumption of vegetables, particularly cruciferous vegetables, and fruit to promote cardiovascular health and overall longevity.

Eating cruciferous vegetables on a regular basis has also been associated with a lower risk of a variety of cancers.
 The cruciferous family is unique among vegetables because of their glucosinolate content - glucosinolates give cruciferous vegetables their characteristic spicy or bitter tastes; when the plant cell walls are broken by blending, chopping, or chewing, an enzyme called myrosinase converts glucosinolates to isothiocyanates (ITCs) - compounds with potent anti-cancer effects, including:

• Anti-inflammatory effects: ITCs have been found to decrease the secretion of inflammatory molecules.
• Anti-angiogenic effects: isothiocyanates can inhibit the development of new blood vessels to limit tumor growth.
• Detoxification of carcinogens: some carcinogens must be converted to their active form before they can bind DNA to cause carcinogenic changes and isothiocyanates can block this transformation.
• Preventing DNA damage: isothiocyanates also increase the production of our body's natural detoxification enzymes, which protect DNA against damage from carcinogens and free radicals.
• Stopping cell division in cells whose DNA has been damaged
• Promoting programmed cell death in cancerous cells
• Anti-estrogenic activity. Exposure to estrogen is known to increase breast cancer risk; estrogens can alter gene expression, promoting cell proliferation breast tissue. ITCs have been shown to inhibit the expression of estrogen-responsive genes.
• Shifting hormone metabolism: eating cruciferous vegetables regularly helps the body to shift hormone metabolism, reducing the cancer-promoting potency of estrogen and other hormones.

In a recent Chinese study, women who regularly ate one serving per day of cruciferous vegetables had a 50 percent reduced risk of breast cancer. A 17 percent decrease in breast cancer risk was found in a European study for consuming cruciferous vegetables at least once a week.

Moreover those who ate cruciferous vegetables at least weekly cut the risk of mouth cancer and breast cancer by almost a fifth and oesophageal cancer by more than a quarter, a study has found. The research revealed that compared to men and women who ate no cruciferous vegetables, those who ate their greens vegetables at least once a week cut their risk of mouth cancer by almost a fifth (17%). Results also showed the vegetables cut the risk of oesophageal cancer by more than a quarter (28%), colorectal cancer by almost a fifth (17%) and kidney cancer by almost a third (32%).

It might be hard to convince some to eat their greens but here are a lot of good reasons why they should!!!

Don't forget: cruciferous vegetables must be chopped, crushed, or chewed well for maximum benefit! The more you chop before cooking (or chew, if you are eating the vegetables raw), the better. Some ITC benefit may be lost with boiling or steaming, so we get the maximum benefit from eating cruciferous vegetables raw (however, gut bacteria also have the myrosinase enzyme, so additional ITC production may occur in cooked cruciferous vegetables after we eat them).

Tips to use and prepare your greens

• Steam, microwave, stir-fry or sauté to retain glucosinolates, folate and vitamin C. Boiling greens in a pot of water can cut content of these substances in half.
• Cook just until tender-crisp, with greens still bright. Overcooking makes them smelly and unattractive.
• Many are also delicious roasted or baked, especially turnips, Brussels sprouts, broccoli and cauliflower.
• Add to soup, or make them the star on their own.
• Many are delicious raw, perhaps dipped in hummus or spread with peanut butter. If the flavor, for example of Brussels sprouts, is too strong to enjoy raw, steam or blanch briefly, cool quickly in ice water and serve cold.
• Enjoy the depth of flavor they add to green salads.
• Try broccoli sprouts on salads or in sandwiches.

A deliciuos recipe

Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Potatoes - 4 servings

• 3/4 lb. Brussels sprouts, preferably large
• 2 small onions
• 1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil, divided
• 3/4 lb. small potatoes, preferably 2-inches or smaller diameter
• Salt and ground black pepper

If your oven holds two baking sheets side by side, place rack in center. If not, arrange racks in top and bottom thirds. Preheat the oven to 400° F.
Remove tough outer leaves from Brussels sprouts and cut crosswise into three to four rounds about 1/2-inch thick. Halve onions and cut crosswise into very thin slices.
In medium mixing bowl combine sprouts and onions, add 2 tsp. of oil, 1/2 tsp. salt and mix to coat vegetables. Spread them in thick layer on foil-covered baking sheet.
In same bowl, place potatoes and drizzle on remaining 1 tsp. of oil. Mix with your hands to coat them. Place potatoes on second baking sheet. Set oily bowl aside.
Place both baking sheets in oven. Bake Brussels sprouts with onions for 15 minutes. Stir, mixing in any browned bits, rearrange in thick layer, and roast until Brussels sprouts are almost tender, about another 10-15 minutes.
Bake potatoes for 30 minutes, or until a knife pierces larger ones easily. Return roasted sprouts to mixing bowl. Transfer potatoes to cutting board and cut them crosswise into 1/2-inch slices. Add potatoes to sprouts. Using fork, roughly break up potato slices and mix with roasted sprouts and onions. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and serve.

Per serving: 150 calories, 4 g total fat (0.5 g saturated fat), 24 g carbohydrate,
4 g protein 6 g dietary fiber, 30 mg sodium

by Dana Jacobi, author of 12 Best Foods Cookbook and contributor to AICR’s New American Plate Cookbook: Recipes for a Healthy Weight and a Healthy Life.

Sources: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-10/cp-egv100711.php, http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/94/1/240.full, British Heart Foundation, http://annonc.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2012/02/10/annonc.mdr604, http://www.aicr.org/foods-that-fight-cancer/broccoli-cruciferous.html#research, http://www.aacr.org/home/public--media/aacr-press-releases.aspx?d=2779, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2737735/, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22328735, http://www.dentalhealth.org/news/details/642