Unpopular veggies vital for cancer protection

Vegetables with the highest anti-cancer potential make up only a “minuscule” part of the diet, and measures should be taken to boost consumption, says a new study in the journal Food Chemistry. Canadian researchers agree that extracts from cruciferous, dark green and Allium vegetables show the highest anti-cancer potential. “Since the formation of tumors is a random event that occurs in a significant percentage of the adult population, the increased consumption of these vegetables with high anticancer properties could play a central role in preventing these tumors to reach a clinical stage and thus reduce the incidence of several types of cancers,” wrote lead author Dominique Boivin from Quebec University.

Researchers evaluated how extracts from 34 vegetables may inhibit the growth of eight different tumor cell lines in the laboratory. Significant inhibition of all the cancer cell lines tested – stomach, lung, breast, kidney, skin, pancreas, prostate, and brain – was observed for all the extracts from cruciferous vegetables, such as broccoli, kale, Brussels sprouts, and curly cabbage, and vegetables of the genus Allium, such as garlic. “These chemopreventive effects are likely related to the formation of organosulfur compounds following mechanical disruption of these vegetables, namely isothiocyanates from cruciferous and a series of allyl sulfur molecules from Allium vegetables,” wrote Boivin.

On the other hand, vegetables such as potato, carrot, tomato and lettuce, were generally ineffective at providing cancer protection, said the researchers. “The lack of inhibitory effect of these widely consumed vegetables is noteworthy since potatoes, carrots, tomatoes and leaf lettuces account for approximately 60 per cent of total per capita vegetable intake in the Unites States adult population,” they added.

Steve - this is a significant study because it shows that vegetables have very different protective effects. Like with an overall balanced diet, one must also balance the types and vegetables and fruits one consumes.