 |
|
|
Besides lowering the risk of cancer and coronary heart disease due to high levels of vitamin C and beta carotene which are important antioxidants, broccoli also appears to suppress Helicobacter pylori infections, which are one of the most common bacterial infections worldwide and are a major cause of stomach cancer, a new study published in the journal Cancer Prevention Research suggests.
Jed Fahey, Sc.D., of Johns Hopkins, and colleagues randomized 48 H. pylori-infected Japanese patients to either 70 grams of uncooked broccoli sprouts or an equivalent quantity of alfalfa sprouts for eight weeks. Broccoli sprouts contain sulforaphane, previously found to act as an antibiotic. Sulforaphane also manifests antioxidative and anti-inflammatory effects via the transcription factor Nrf2.
The researchers assessed the severity of H. pylori infection at the beginning of the study and again at four and eight weeks using standard breath, serum, and stool tools. After eight weeks, H. pylori levels were significantly lower on all three measures among those patients who had eaten broccoli sprouts. H. pylori remained the same in people eating alfalfa sprouts.
“Broccoli has recently entered the public awareness as a preventive dietary agent. This study supports the emerging evidence that broccoli sprouts may be able to prevent cancer in humans, not just in lab animals,” Fahey said, commenting on the findings of the study.
However, the results of the study need to be verified, the researchers said, but it is clearer than even that a diet rich in broccoli won’t hurt anybody.
© 2007 - 2009 - eFluxMedia
