Brassica Tea and BroccoSprouts

Our mission is to promote sulforaphane and the goodness of broccoli. While we compare the long-lasting power of SGS to the short-term benefits of Vitamins C and E, by no means do we wish to downplay the importance of these compounds. A multi-center, case-control study from Italy (#) helps explain how broccoli is a nutritional powerhouse.

This study suggests that an increased intake of Vitamin E (17.5 micrograms per day) was associated with a 44% decrease in the risk of renal cell cancer (RCC), compared to a lesser average intake of 11.9 micrograms. Furthermore, an intake of 18.6 micrograms of Vitamin C was associated with a 44% reduction in RCC, compared to a smaller intake of 89.4 micrograms.

BroccoSprouts(R) not only contain at least 73 milligrams of SGS per one ounce serving, but they also contain 20 milligrams of Vitamin C and 3.8 milligrams of Vitamin E.

Keeping with the Italian theme, tomatoes and broccoli are in the news again (#). Separately, they are hailed for their cancer-preventive properties (tomatoes contain lycopene, broccoli contains SGS, Vitamins C and E); together tomatoes and broccoli appear to work synergistically, with the different compounds ostensibly working on different pathways. At the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, laboratory rats injected with prostate cancer cells were fed a diet containing 10% tomato powder and 10% broccoli powder. Another set of rats were fed either the tomato or broccoli powder exclusively, while yet another group received finasteride, a drug used to treat enlarged prostate. One last group of rats was castrated to quash their testosterone, which health experts believe feeds prostate cancer.

After 22 weeks, the scientists found the broccoli/tomato combination surpassed all other diets in reducing the prostate tumors. Only castration outperformed all.

Of course, the next question is, how much should you eat? The researchers suggest 1.4 cups of raw broccoli ( an ounce of BroccoSprouts!) with 2.5 cups of fresh tomato or 1 cup of tomato sauce or tomate paste.

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Filed under: SGS, antioxidants, cancer, prostate cancer, science news on February 20th, 2007