You know that consuming plenty of vegetables is vital for you’re your nutritional wellness, but which ones? Sure, plant foods are all good for your wellbeing – they’re rich in vitamins, minerals, and gut-healthy fibre – but are all vegetables created equal? Or could some vegetables provide enhanced benefits as compared to others? In truth, the answer is…not really. All veggies are great but, if you are literally forcing yourself to eat more vegetables, new research suggests that cruciferous ones are the way to go.
Cruciferous vegetables belong to the cabbage family, and include broccoli, collard greens, Watercress, arugula, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, Kale, bok choy and wasabi, to name just a few. All of these veggies are absolutely packed with vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals. If you want to get specific, all cruciferous vegetables have a high content of beta carotene, zeaxanthin and lutein from the Carotenoids group, along with being rich in folate and Vitamins C, E and K. With the addition of gut-friendly fibre that these veggies provide, it’s no wonder that they can help make up a healthy diet.
However, considering the fact that a lot of other vegetables have these healthy components, we need to explore the things that set cruciferous vegetables apart from all the others; glucosinolates and myrosinase. When your body digests cruciferous vegetables, the myrosinase to come into contact with glucosinolates, initiating a chemical reaction that has a vital effect on your wellness: protecting you against cancer. Powerful anti-cancer compounds release active compounds like nitriles, indoles, isothiocyanates and thiocyanates as a result of this chemical reaction, and this prevents cancer in four key ways:
1. Protecting against DNA damage
2. Having a holistic antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and antiviral effect within the cells
3. Making potential carcinogens inactive
4. Helping to negate oxidative stress and fight against oxygen free radicals produced by the body. Reducing these helps cut down the risk of several cancers, including prostate cancer.
In fact, research recommends you add about two to three servings of cruciferous vegetables to your diet, but this can be daunting if you’re not particularly fond of veggies. The down side to cruciferous vegetables is that they contain sulphur based chemicals (the very same beneficial glucosinolates) which gives these vegetables a slightly bitter taste. That said, once you take a look at the wellness numbers, you will agree that cruciferous vegetables are no doubt better for you as compared to other vegetables!
- Research found that 28 servings of vegetables per week decreased prostate cancer risk by 33%, but just three servings of cruciferous vegetables per week decreased prostate cancer risk by 41%.
- Just one more servings of cabbage per week can reduce your risk of pancreatic cancer by 38%.
- One serving per day of cruciferous vegetables can lower your risk of breast cancer by over 50%.
Cruciferous vegetables are very beneficial when it comes to preventing hormone based cancers – like breast cancer and ovarian cancer – in particular. This is due to the fact that compounds like indole-3-carbinol (abundant in broccoli, Brussels sprouts and cabbage), can help your body excrete oestrogen and other hormones. New research has reveals that these ITCs blunt the growth-promoting effects of oestrogen on breast and cervical cancer cells. Chinese researchers recently found that women who regularly ate one serving of cruciferous vegetables per day had a 50% reduced risk of breast cancer. Moreover, a European study revealed that consuming cruciferous vegetables at least once a week led to a 17% decrease in breast cancer risk. Plus, breast cancer survivors who eat cruciferous vegetables regularly have lower risk of cancer recurrence – the more cruciferous vegetables they ate, the lower their risk.