New Research Trumpets the Virtues of Vegetables

By Kathryn W. Stafford Medill News Service

Everyone knows broccoli is good for you, but new research shows the vegetable contains a chemical that can repair DNA and help protect you against cancer in the process.

A Georgetown University Medical Center study is the first to establish a molecular link that explains why eating your veggies may keep you healthy.

“Our findings suggest a clear molecular process that would explain the connection between diet and cancer prevention,” stated Dr. Eliot M. Rosen, the laboratory study’s lead author.

Rosen said the study makes it clear that foods we eat can provide added protection to prevent the development of breast and prostate cancers, in particular.

Lab tests show a compound called indole-3 carbinol (found in broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables such as cabbage, Brussels sprouts and cauliflower) and a chemical called genistein (found in soy beans) increase the levels of certain proteins.

These proteins, called BRCA1 and BRCA2, repair damaged DNA that could lead to the development of cancer.

The study by Rosen, professor of oncology, cell biology and radiation medicine at Georgetown’s Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, in Washington, D.C., was published in the British Journal of Cancer.