Cabbage-Family Vegetables
May Reduce Cancer Risk
Including
Chinese stir-fries
in your family's diet
could help reduce their
risk for cancer.
"Vegetables in
the cabbage family
like Chinese bok choy
contain protective
phytochemicals called
glucosinolates that
help the body eliminate
carcinogens," said
Dr. Janice Stuff, an
assistant professor
at Baylor College of
Medicine and a CNRC
nutrition scientist.
According to Stuff,
the traditional Asian
diet is rich in cabbage-family
vegetables, also called
cruciferous vegetables,
and contains nearly
three times the level
of protective glucosinolates
as the typical American
diet.
"Research suggests
that consuming just
two servings a day
of cruciferous vegetables
could cut the risk
for certain types of
cancer, including prostate
and esophageal cancers,
by nearly 50 percent," she
said. Other cruciferous
vegetables include
broccoli and broccoli
sprouts, Brussels sprouts,
horseradish, mustard
greens, collard greens,
cauliflower, cabbage,
horseradish, kohlrabi,
rutabaga, watercress,
and Japanese wasabi.
Scientists have been
exploring the link
between diet and reduced
risk for certain cancers
for more than thirty
years. In early studies,
epidemiologists found
that men living in
Japan and China not
only had much less
prostate cancer than
American men, they
also had less than
Chinese and Japanese
men who emigrated to
America and much less
than second- and third-generation
Chinese- and Japanese-Americans.
Similar trends were
found in breast-cancer
rates among women.
"Since genetic
makeup doesn't change
when someone emigrates
to a new country, it's
clear that some environmental
factor or factors,
such as dietary changes,
were affecting cancer
rates," Stuff
said.
Recent research linking
the intake of specific
foods to cancer risk
found that vegetables,
particularly cruciferous
vegetables, had pronounced
anti-cancer benefits.
Further laboratory
tests found that glucosinolates,
which give cruciferous
vegetables their bitter
taste, stimulated the
body to produce enzymes
that help prevent prostate
and other cancer.
Although studies continue
to confirm that diet
can play a significant
role in cancer risk,
this doesn't mean that
genetic makeup doesn't
matter. Stuff points
out that genetic makeup
can affect how effectively
and/or efficiently
an individual's body
responds to the presence
of glucosinolates in
the diet, which in
turn can affect cancer
risk.
"This is what
makes nutrition research
in the post-human genome
sequencing era exciting.
Perhaps one day we
will find genetic markers
that identify those
individuals who could
benefit most from increasing
their consumption of
cruciferous vegetables
or other anti-cancer
food," she said.
Stuff, like many nutrition
researchers, also believes
that cancer prevention,
like the prevention
of many diseases that
tend to appear later
in life, should begin
in childhood.
"As a pediatric
nutrition researcher,
I am very interested
in understanding whether
the consumption of
cruciferous vegetables
in childhood can affect
life-long cancer risk,
and if so, the amount
that is beneficial," she
said.
Editor's
Note: See
www.leafygreens.org for
information and
lesson plans featuring
nutritious greens. For
more information on
food and cancer prevention,
see the American Cancer
Society web site: www.cancer.org.
