Broccoli may help prevent and protect against cancer, specifically prostate cancer. Recent research has demonstrated that digested green vegetables such as broccoli produce chemicals which are known to suppress prostate cancer cell growth.
These results demonstrate that 3,3′-diindolylmethane produced from eating cruciferous vegetables acts as an effective antiandrogen to suppress prostate cancer proliferation cells in culture tests.
Vegetables like cauliflower, kale, Brussels sprouts and broccoli are an excellent source of indole-3-carbinol which the body transforms into diindolylmethane when digested.
Androgen plays an essential role in maintaining normal prostate development and function, but can also play an integral part in its early stages, leading to prostate cancer that must be treated using anti-androgen medications.
In most prostate cancer cases, cancer cells become resistant to androgens over time and continue to thrive independently from them in later stages.
Researchers conducted multiple experiments aimed at comparing the effects of diindolylmethane on androgen-dependent prostate cancer cells as well as those dependent on androgen, known as androgen independent ones.
Researchers discovered that androgen-dependent cancer cells treated with diindolylmethane solution grew 70% less rapidly when compared to their counterparts left untreated, without having any discernable impact on androgen-independent cell growth – suggesting androgen inhibition is likely at play here.
Broccoli Could Protect against Liver Cancer
A recent study suggests that regular broccoli consumption could provide protection from liver cancer and help in the prevention of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease – which contributes to liver malfunction and has been known to result in the highly lethal form of liver cancer known as Hepatocellular Carcinoma.
Prior studies have suggested that broccoli could help slow fat accumulation in mice’s livers and protect against nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, so researchers were curious to see how its consumption would impact mice with a carcinogen that causes liver cancer. Four groups were studied; two received Westernized diets while others did not; some received or did not receive broccoli supplementation.
Researchers were especially intrigued to observe how broccoli affected liver cancerous tumor formation and progression; however, they also wanted to evaluate how efficiently their high-fat diet affected its metabolism of lipids.
Results indicated an increase in both size and number of liver nodules caused by consuming Westernized diet mice; however, broccoli helped decrease this number.
Lipid globules appear on the liver when nonalcoholic fatty liver disease develops and have been observed in Westernized diet mice.
Due to our modern diets, fatty liver has increased, yet broccoli offered protection.
