Cruciferous veggies stars in the cancer fight

Broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower and kale are all cancer-fighting stars in the produce department, and several studies have linked them to a lower risk for colorectal, lung and stomach cancers, says Lawrence Kushi, Sc.D., associate director for epidemiology at Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, California. Plus, research from Michigan State University in East Lansing found that those who ate raw or lightly cooked cabbage and sauerkraut more than three times a week were 72 percent less likely to develop breast cancer than those who had 1.5 or fewer servings. Experts suspect vegetables such as cabbage contain chemicals that turn on your body's natural detoxifying enzymes.

Steve - they harmonize our epigenetic pathways. In this case, cruciferous vegetables positively modify the methylation pathway, which is integral in detoxifying harmful toxins from our bodies. If a genetic predisposition exists for poor detoxification and is expressed negatively, increasing the amount of cruciferous vegetables can render those genes latent. They calm the epigenetic pathways that either "turn on" or "turn off" expression of our genes.