Thanks for the information! I have lost 15 pounds without any problems with these vegetables. Ok they do sometimes cause gas Lol.
I feel much healthier now. Why not try it? It won’t hurt!
CY
1
Typical westernized "magic bullet" reductionist thinking. Eat your fruits and veggies. All of them. Singling out any one or any class is equivalent to gobbling supplements, which we already know does not get us anywhere... well, possibly to the poorhouse.
Just abide by ALL of the advice in these comments. You cannot go wrong.
1
[[[ Many studies have found no association between cruciferous vegetable intake and cancers of the prostate, colon and rectum, lung or breast. Other studies, however, have found that men who ate diets high in cruciferous vegetables had a lower risk of prostate cancer, and that women whose diets were rich in these vegetables had a lower risk of breast cancer.]]]
These are among my favorite and most frequently eaten vegetables. I have breast cancer......
There's no magic bullet--that's all you need to know.
Eat heathfully based on your personal DNA and medical history, get a good night's sleep (as much as one can given America's never-ending death spiral) and exercise.
And find a doctor that you can trust. Hopefully, you'll be able to afford good health insurance.
Keeping my fingers crossed for everyone!
2
I had a kidney stone, one of the common compositions. Told to avoid oxalate heavy cruciferous veggies. And have, despite really liking them. I think the correlation has remained valid, unlike the really loose nutritional theorizing described here.
After suffering from IBS and other digestive problems for years, I decided to change my diet and add more fiber.
Doing that has worked wonders, and my issues are so much better. Luckily, I love broccoli and cabbage, and both of those are part of my daily diet. Whether or not cruciferous veggies help prevent cancer, they are certainly beneficial for digestive health.
4
@Joe on the other hand…I have an IBD condition and cannot eat cruciferous veg when my condition flares. Those veg. can cause some terrible pain during those episodes and I am concerned about blockages, so low residue is the the go to for me.
1
For those who have gardens -- look up Hudson Valley Seeds online and order a packet of their Piracicabo Broccoli seeds.
Start them at the recommended time for your zone and be prepared to baby them a bit, it's well worth it. (Alternatively,
talk a Market or greenhouse grower into starting them for you).
Best Broccoli Ever ! Once established, very east to grow, heat
resistant and cold tolerant. They don't make a big central head,
just a small one which you cut before it flowers. Then start enjoying an endless supply of tender, long stemmed side shoots.
The plants keep growing all season so give them plenty of room.
So good. Best eaten while munching around the garden !
8
But...but...but...kale. Really? I grew kale when I lived in Rochester as it is a green that stayed well into the winter. Sadly, this veggie never passed the kids' taste test. Fortunately, broccoli was acceptable.
4
@Norvell Nelson
I'm with your kids: broccoli good, kale bad.
Broccolini is a good starter Cruciferae. Even my picky SO likes it occasionally (especially when I roast it).
3
Broccolini tastes great! @J c
to amp up the goodies in broccoli - chop it up and let it sit for a while, I'm told by an MD 20 minutes. Cooking destroys some of the benefits, so a light steaming seems to be best. same for garlic)
If you can add a little bit of mustard to the cooked broccoli - The damaged compounds spring back some. Lookup Broccoli on the nutritionfacts dot org website for more details.
6
I like the advice that “ you cannot go wrong incorporating a lot of cruciferous vegetables in your diet.”
True. And as a cancer patient, the observations that some studies found no effects the cancers listed, whereas other studies did, at least demonstrate the potential that cruciferous veggies may provide some protection against cancer, and at worst do no harm.
And that is much better than many to most of the current medical treatments available (possible excepting surgery). And veggies only have beneficial effects on health, whereas ALL cancer treatments have deleterious effects on health and quality of life. Yes, I bitterly regret being talked into treatments that highly likely provided no benefits but definitely adversely impacted my quality of life. So, pass the broccoli, please.
13
A much better question would be, does prolonged consumption of cruciferous vegetables really help PREVENT cancer. I appreciate this article, but it’s frustrating that in this day and age and despite all ongoing research, everything seems inconclusive and we never seem to know anything for sure. As always, “more research is needed”.
5
Do Cruciferous Vegetables Really Fight Cancer?
NO. They do not fight cancer.
Still, good to eat -- lots of vitamins and minerals -- a good part of a healthy well-rounded diet.
2
@Kip Hansen How can you definitively say that cruciferous vegetables DON'T help fight cancer as one of their attributes? That's just not credible at all, even though the proof that they absolutely do is still inconclusive.
2
G-BOMBS: Greens, beans. onions, mushrooms, berries, seeds.
Nutrient dense. Calorically light.
All you need to know.
13
Shameful article. Some cancers are very rare. Some cancers e.g. lung are mostly related to smoking and cigarette smoke.
Having purchased a bg of prewashed kale that seems to have n=close to zero flavor-- all chopped (give me a break from the creative prose and the emphasis on fresh veggies) - boiled up and blended (immersion blender) for a zuppa di verdura.. (green soup) in the winter I add a potato to the mix -- more calories with the starchy vegetable...
perhaps, most interesting in this article was the discovery that half the people don't have gene to make "good use" of all this green stuff!! (Do they die a few months earlier?? My soon to br 105 year old cousin -- not happy about it -- ate -- and it might or might not include the green stuff.. She has maintained a relatively steady weight her entire life... -- and has no chronic diseases.)
Can we please stop obsessing... altho the research is interesting, the article info demonstrated that the headline should have read for 50% of a population, eating your greens is a good thing.
8
@Auntie Mame There are plenty of people, like my dear friend, who died of lung cancer having never smoked a cigarette in her life. Various types of air pollution are operative as well, not just cigarettes. So "shameful" back at ya.
1
If you are taking an anti-coagulant, check with your doctor before you start eating tons of these veggies.
5
@Karen - you just need to keep your intake consistent. I was on Coumadin for years - now, thankfully Xarelto, where you can eat whatever you want. I ate tons of greens, which meant I could never stop eating them or my numbers would get wacky. A great habit to develop!
2
Gee whiz, guys, just eat a balanced diet: only thing you probably want to work on is cutting your meat intake some, and eating more fish and fresh veggies. Don’t drink a lot, or pound down candy, snacks and ice cream.
And stop already with the weird diets and the fistfuls of fitamins or whatever. They’re mostly useless, generally untested, and can get you into trouble. See your doc, if you’re over 55 or so, might want to check whether you’re Vit D deficient, which your doc probably ran a test for anyway.
This just isn’t tricky.
6
Obviously, vitamins and nutrients extracted from food is better than pill form. Our bodies cannot break down most pills.
I had an xray of my back, pelvis, etc many years ago and there were about 50 large calcium pills just sitting in my stomach. I stopped taking all large vitamins pills that day and only take liquid vitamins, sublingual or vitamin cream. Even that (while bypassing my stomach) is still excreted out immediately in my urine. My body is not absorbing much of it.
My doctor told me to use the liquid vitamins if I am deficient, but if I'm not deficient, don't take at all.
3
Was the broccoli and other vegetables used in these studies organic. I think it would be essential to use vegetables that were organic to know their true effects.
Warren Neidich MD
8
I use broccoli slaw as the base in my every morning salad: with it are scalions, avocado, tomato, spinach, plus tofu, grilled maccarel for protein. I mix Ponzu (soy sauce with citric acid) and Flaxseed Oil 50% each for dressing.
Walnuts, almonds and peanuts for topping.
I am a Zoner (by Dr. Barry Sears) of 26 years.
Thanks to Dr. Sears. At 79, I am painfree. Drug free. Supplements free.
I still rock scramble and hike. Stretch exercise and meditate. I clean my house without help; and love to work in the yard.
If you are truly serious about diet, why don't you study Zone before taking up your own extreme vegetarian diet and prevent getting osteoporosis?
If you are assuming the disinformation, you are in big trouble. Food should be our medicine. Mine is.
12
They probably do or at the very least are healthy for you.
Not cooked right or souped up, they are not exactly like eating a hot fudge sundae so they must be good for you.
2
The SAD, standard American diet, is well established to cause most chronic diseases. As long as one lives to eat pizza, ice cream, and chips it is only a matter of time until "the chickens come home to roost". SAD = refined carbohydrates and process seed oils. And as a comment below stated it is the sugar, not the fat that is the prime killer.
And as for red meat, the studies show that grass-fed animal meat is HEALTHY. Industrial raise meat is not!
12
@javaharv
I agree, that is probably the key. My PhD is in Food Science and these studies should not only consider how much cruciferous that we're eating, but also what else we're eating with those vegetables. Of particular interest is saturated fat which, has known links to various cancers. If your broccoli is lathered down with cheese or butter, that may be counterproductive.
12
When I was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2014, I was encouraged to eat these veggies everyday. I have been following that advice. And my cancer has progressed very slowly. So slowly that I have not yet undergone treatment for it!
18
@richard I would undergo treatment for it as early as possible, broccoli not withstanding.
3
Why? The treatment is often worse than the disease.
14
I'm glad to read once again that certain foods may be beneficial to our health. But all things in moderation. Too much spinach or kale increases blood clotting and that could be an issue for those on therapeutic aspirin or coumadin for example. I think a number of our citizens are health fanatics and jump with both feet into every new finding or report and that could be to their detriment.
7
@R. Anderson
For those on blood thinners, vitamin K is to be avoided.
@Auntie Mame No, your intake just needs to be consistent.
"In laboratory experiments in rats and mice, these compounds have been found to inhibit cancers of the bladder, breast, colon, liver, lung and stomach. "
Unless the method of exposing lab animals to the presumed-protective compounds matches the content and quantity of ordinary human dietary exposure, the above quotation has no clear meaning.
3
Let us dispel a few myths about vegetarian food:
1. Vegetarians do not get enough protein: Nuts, seeds, and legumes have plenty of protein.
2. Vegetarian meals are not filling: Pasta! Rice! Bread!
3. Vegetarian meals taste meh: It's not the dish, it's us: We compare it to meat, and decide it "does not taste like meat". Meat-eaters in countries whose cuisines feature lots of "mainstream" vegetarian options do not seem to share that viewpoint.
4. Being vegetarian is an aberration: A significant percentage of the population in southern and eastern parts of Asia (India, China, Thailand, and so on) have historically (for millennia) been vegetarian, for religious and cultural reasons.
5. Vegetarian cuisine is low on variety: We in America now get to enjoy Mediterranean, Indian, and Mexican cuisines, which feature lots of delicious vegetarian fare - not just piles of veggies. Think falafel, baba ganoush, karhai paneer, guacomole, vegan pad Thai, dosa, and so on.
6. Vegetarian food is low-fat: Depends on the dish, and how much fat you want to add. But is is true that it is easier to make low-fat vegetarian dishes.
Vegetarian food (By which I mean vegan + dairy) provides all the nutrition you need. Besides, as this articles tells you, it could help you improve your health.
15
@Jason,
I’ve been a vegetarian for 50+ years, and I ate dairy products and eggs for most of them.
But, about 7 years ago, I learned about the health benefits of eating whole plant foods, avoiding processed foods as well as animal products, so I dropped the dairy and eggs. And. I don’t miss them. I also eat far more veggies, beans, and whole grains than I used to.
I get plenty of protein (vegans as well as omnivores eat more protein than what is recommended), as well as many other nutrients which are only found in plant foods, and in which too many Americans are deficient. Take fiber, found only in plants, for example: A whopping 97% of Americans are deficient in fiber! One type of fiber is digested by bacteria in our large intestine, and the resulting metabolites not only feed our intestinal cells but also interact with a host of other physiological systems, including our immune system, in beneficial ways.
4
What diet works best for an individual appears to be somewhat linked to genetics
Could genetic testing be the key to unlocking our optimum diet in the future ?
For now, my body seems to be running pretty good on scones, coffee and tacos, so I'll go with that for the time being
9
@S B Good luck with that.
Caramelied shredded cabbage is its own super-dish.
Roasted Broccoli / sprouts: They go great in a gravy of roasted sesame seeds and cashews, blended into a paste with ginger and onion. Fry the heady mix in a spoonful of oil, add boiling veggie stock and salt, add in the roasted broccoli / sprouts, cook for two minutes.
Simple. Delish. Nutrish.
And quite satisfying.
19
Sounds awesome, I’m going to try it for lunch but I’m also going to add chopped garlic.
2
@Jason for when you don’t want to shred kale, here’s the best kale recipe I’ve ever found: blanch the kale for a couple of minutes in boiling water to leach out the bitterness. Drain & then cook the kale covered over medium heat (low if you have a powerful stove) in olive oil for 10 too 20 minutes, it’s a very forgiving dish & can putter alone nicely in a back burner while you make something else. I usually add anchovies or bacon at the olive oil stage but you can also use ginger and/or garlic etc.
2
Still waiting for a research study indicating that chocolate chip cookies can prevent just about any medical condition.
41
Dark chocolate chips may help the cookie be beneficial. At least I hope so. @Susan
Do Cruciferous Vegetables fight Cancer...YES ...a Alkaline diet is the way to go to fight cancer...such as
Fresh vegetables
sauerkraut (pH: 3.30–3.60)
cabbage (pH: 5.20–6.80)
beets (pH: 5.30–6.60)
corn (pH: 5.90–7.50)
mushrooms (pH: 6.00–6.70)
broccoli (pH: 6.30-6.85)
collard greens (pH: 6.50–7.50)
5
@There for the grace of A.I. goes I
A pH lower than 7 is acidic, not alkaline. But yes, eating these veggies is very good for you.
20
@There for the grace of A.I. goes I
Those pHs are acidic (<7.0), not alkaline. This feeds into the confusion of what "alkaline" diet means. If we go by the list above ,vegetables are acidic ....but that is not what the diet is supposedly looking at. It's the end product of the metabolism of the foods that is considered alkaline...basically alkaline "waste" that changes blood pH.
5
Or, you can eat broccoli and Brussels sprouts simply because they taste good, especially if purchased fresh from the farmers market in the fall, after they’ve been kissed by frost.
27
@Linda Last Sunday, I sowed broccoli seeds and Brussel sprout seeds - and they germinated in only four days. By the time they are ready for picking, my tomatoes and cucumbers will be a warm memory. I sow romaine lettuce seeds every ten days or so, ensuring a supply of deep green, gorgeous lettuce into the winter.
Note to non-gardeners: If you have just a few feet to garden, you can grow wonderful romaine. Delicious, beautiful, and you don't have to worry about salmonella. Or befriend a gardener.
5
Nutrition science is not science. It is part of the nutrition industrial complex which pushes unfounded claims that it is natural, and therefore, good for maladies from snakebite to cancer. If you like these vegetables, enjoy them, but don’t expect them to be panaceas.
16
For years I've been following the advice to eat cruciferous vegetables. Lately, I've been learning about the research regarding a healthy gut biome as it relates to genetic heritage. A vegetable that's healthy for one is toxic to another. There is no one size fits all when it comes to dietary advice.
10
If you suffer from Crohn’s or ulcerative colitis, they’re more likely to hospitalize you.
7
Once you've gotten into the habit of having at least one big salad every day, full of dark greens and colorful vegetables, you may find it easier to make better dietary choices.
And if you're someone who's had trouble giving up red meat and pork, consider the horrific lives those animals endure before they're killed and "processed" in factories that aren't much more humane to their workers. Or that it takes more than 1,800 gallons of water to produce 1 pound of beef.
31
@Randy
Consider the horrific lives of veggies in big ag, including organic big ag. Just because a collection of mostly carbon developed a face with sad eyes and fur versus green leaves does not justify being removed from the menu. Plus, if you propose people stop eating meat, countless millions of animals would have to be slaughtered as they would be surplus and unwanted. Or are you proposing to adopt them all? Your plan would essentially mean extinction for a range of species that would no longer have any viable purpose. Is that your goal? Or did you imagine they would just roam free?
8
@Randy Thank you for reminding us of these facts. There are no winners in this horrific industry. I very much enjoy the guilt free act of eating a serving of brussel sprouts and do not miss eating pork or beef.
14
I didn’t realize people were eating meat so that these poor animals in industrial farms fed antibiotics and caged would not go extinct.
Very caring and compassionate!
26
My mother's ancestors had many children and lived to be over 80 and up to 100 years old in the 1800's and 1900's. My father's ancestors died at young ages, typically 50's and 60's.
My mother is still going strong at 94 years old and my father died 40 years ago. Both slim, nonsmokers, average diets, active, etc. When you have people living moderate lives, genetics sometimes takes over.
26
I gave a question to our expert commenters. I am a strict vegan with one exception. Namely, one cup of fat free Greek yogurt each day. No added salt and sugar. No food item with any ingredient I can’t pronounce. So am I gonna live until the age of 120?
@PaulN
I am not an accredited specialist. But at 79, I am painfree drug free and supplement free with my 26 years long Zone life style recommended by Dr. Barry Sears. Your strict vegan style with one cup of yogurt a day caught my attention.
Dr Sears says that most of the vegetarians in US do not take in enough protein, who would suffer from osteoporosis. Taking up extreme diet will bring you ill health.
1
@hiker Dr. Sears would be incorrect — most Americans consume far more protein than necessary and a vegetarian or vegan diet is not inherently low in protein. A vegetarian diet is hardly extreme once you consider what farmed animals endure throughout the entirety their short, miserable lives. ‘Extreme’ is industrial animal agriculture. It is decimating biodiversity and accelerating the climate emergency.
16
@Libby in my 26th year as an ethical Vegan and doing just fine so far with great blood tests and normal pressure. No medications or supplements. peace to all from Boston. Eat your veggies.
3
Diversity with daily vegetables helps. It helps that i live close to a supermarket but also have frozen veggies on hand.
On good days I try to make a salad and a vegetable side for dinner. It always was and is non negotiable with the kids. They must eat the veggies before they eat anything else if they complain about that particular dinner’s veggie or salad dish.
3
Longest living Americans eat only plants with some fish. (Proven in studies of the community of Seventh Day Adventists in Loma Linda, California, where the religion prescribes a vegetarian diet.)
So they are cheating a bit, not fully obeying their mandate. The other cheaters -- who eat meat -- die first. Then the most obedient -- vegetarians -- are in the middle, and their life spans are not quite as long as the first group. Optimal diet generally appears to be vegan basically, with fish about twice a week.
4
@Robert
Quality of life counts.. The 105 year old who eats starches and meats is not so happy to be here. After 90/95 life for many people becomes difficult. Sitting around in God's waiting room isn't esp. wonderful.
In the last quarter of the century, I wonder how much longer my ability to do certain things-- e.g. travel, walk, cook, pay bills, play piano -- will last. My pescatarian friends are not faring so well either. Big digestive issues ; no longer want to drive great distances, at night, on super highways. Dialysis three times a week keeps people alive for an average of five years.
You had better have fun -- and just make that chocolate sundae-- with the best ice cream, real chocolate melted in the microwave and maraschino cherries-- small in size.
2
Maybe it isn’t that these vegetables are good for you, maybe it is if you are eating a lot of them you are not eating something else that is bad for you. Like olive oil isn’t necessarily good for you but if it is a substitute for butter it is certainly better for you. 
8
A cruciferous kind of heaven:
Steam broccoli and kale w/frozen string beans (because they last forever when frozen) and zucchini or summer squash for 6 or so minutes, then toss in some small chunks of pecorino romano sheep cheese (sheep cheese is healthier than cow) maybe some slices of turkey if you've a mind to, then flavor with turmeric powder, onion powder & garlic, pepper... drizzle some olive oil and wow!
You may not have vanquished cancer forever, but man that's a really healthy repast... then, taking advantage of stone fruit season whenever possible, perhaps an aprium (a hybrid more apricot than plum) or pluot (the reverse) for dessert and happiness will no doubt follow you for hours...
5
I vote for bringing back the old name, coles, as in cole slaw, over cruciferous vegetables, which is a mouthful. They're the descendants of wild cabbage Brassica oleracea
7
@Mark Battey
To me cruciferous evokes the crucifixion. Cole reminds me of Nat King Cole, a much more pleasant association. Vote for Cole!
One feels better physically and emotionally eating this stuff. I recall being at a party with a bunch of cancer researchers years ago and one of them said if ever had to farm and market for anti-cancer health, he would grow and sell broccoli sprouts - he said the current state of research at the time indicated these are a nutritional anti-cancer power house - for my part, they are just fabulous on an avocado or hummus sandwich with tomatoes.
34
A lot of dietary advice has changed over and over again during my lifetime; eat your vegetables is one that hasn't.
Plus, they're really good for people like me who have diabetes and shouldn't have too many carbs.
28
@Jennie
Vegetables are carbs. But they aren't highly processed carbs.
5
This piece completely overlooks the strong data supporting the health benefits of sulforaphane and its role in cancer chemoprevention. Sulforaphane is found primarily in cruciferous veggies and is highly concentrated in broccoli sprouts.
29
@Philip
Broccoli sprouts are something anyone can grow !
Just be sure to use seeds specified for sprouting as
garden seeds may be treated with stuff you don't want
to eat.
What happened to cabbage, perhaps the most easily prepared of this group ?
19
So easy to make a quick salad with cabbage!
Olive oil salt and lemon or vinegar! Yum
4
@Joe Jacobs The Rodney Dangerfield of vegetables!
14
For what it is worth I would like to add a physiologic effect for consideration supporting the documented anti-inflamation effect measured, strengthening the anti-cancer idea, and explaining why food is more effective than pills: Consider "The Alkaline Tide" created systemwide by the compensatory reaction to the production of Hydrochloric Acid digesting all the cellulose in these vegetables. This wave rocks the pH buffer boats causing a micromoment of altered pH in the time frame of events down in the molecular realm thus changing the availability of or demand for free electrons or protons to participate in synthesis; And also possibly briefly flexing parts of some protein folds and shapes in reaction to the passage of a local pH mini-wave in nano-time. Possible, one may imagine. Maybe, even consequential enough if repeated to accumulate effects that rise to our thresholds of assay and measure noticeability. It would be just the magnitude of marginal difference documented and debated. Alkaline Tide. From Eating.
@Jofis V M
Humans are incapable of "digesting" cellulose, full stop. That job is left to various micro fauna and flora that compose our intestinal microbiome and is not done as well as in our close gorilla relatives.
1
I know no one who overdoses on cruciferous vegetables. However, I know plenty of people who avoid vegetables altogether. Some of these responses make me think that people are looking for a rationale to ignore what works for most.
Also, the China study. You don't have to read the whole scientific work, but you can read a summary of the findings that support what a healthy diet looks like.
9
Even if the vegetables have been sprayed continuously with carcinogenic pesticides (during all growth stages)? Or is organic the only way to go?? Please clarify.
5
You could go wrong if you're susceptible to kidney stones, which can be aggravated by vegetables with oxalates.
13
I think it important to emphasize that the studies are all looking at the impact on the "risk" of getting cancer, which is a statistical construct.
As an example, I practically live on cruciform vegetables, yet I developed breast cancer. Yes, my healthy diet, absence of tobacco use, low alcohol consumption, and low BMI, probably reduced my risk, but the odds failed me and I still got cancer! (And I don't have any known genetic predispositions).
One should do what one can to reduce one's risk, but acknowledge that the reduction is never to zero.
116
@HN
Spot on! The conditions that coalesce to render disease are too dazzlingly complex to ever emerge from some simplistic ( simplistic from the fact that its direction and terms are, and must be, predicated on simplistic questions) scientific study. When you shine a bright, highly focused beam of light into a totally dark room you only know what the beam displays not the totality of what's in the room.
5
@HN
The article states that recent research has discovered that 50% of A population lack the gene to make use of the benefits of this class of veggies.. And that is fascinating info. and should have been in the headline and at the beginning of the article.
5
Such vegetables are high in Vitamin K, which increases coagulation of blood. The down side of such vegetables (eaten in large amounts) is the danger of blood clots.
5
@Geoman : Yep, in excess broccoli in particular have a lot of surface area that could carry toxic chemicals from field or factory if not washed away. President George Herbert Walker Bush was especially adverse to broccoli, I remember reading - but not why. Maybe the C.I.A. had a study.
3
@Jofis V M : Are the chemicals actually water soluble??
And BTW GHB just didn’t like broccoli.
1
@Geoman
The opposite is true-- they are blood thinners., which is why people on certain blood thinners are not allowed to eat them.
Cruciferous vegetables may decrease your body's absorption of Synthroid, a man-made thyroid-replacement-hormone medication. Even if you don't take thyroid hormone (after thyroid removal or ablation if you were diagnosed with Graves' disease [autoimmune hyperthyroidism] OR after a diagnosis of Hashimoto's [autoimmune hypothyroidism], cruciferous vegetables can interfere with iodine absorption. No endocrinologist or primary physician in New York City or on Florida's Gulf Coast has ever discussed diet with this patient, even when I have tried to initiate a conversation, so I indulge in the pickled broccoli from the Whole Foods olive bar, and, occasionally, fresh organic broccoli, brussels sprouts, kale, and arugula. I like these foods, they're nutritious, and they protect health even if they don't prevent certain cancers. Some health-care pros tout the anti-inflammatory properties of turmeric and pepper. You might try these with your goitrogenic veggies. (It's in that cauliflower.)
Possibly you CAN go wrong "incorporating a lot of cruciferous vegetables in your diet," Ms. Sheth. If your TSH (thyroid-stimulating-hormone level) rarely equilibrates within optimal or euthyroid (normal) range for very long, you might wish to experiment on your own. We now appreciate the fact that diseases and disorders affect individuals differently. I personally wouldn't wash down my thyroid-hormone pill with a green smoothie but rather wait many hours after taking a tablet each morning.
20
@Marj
There are a lot of things that a contra indicated when taking certain medications, when they encourage people to eat lots of green vegetables they are talking someone who is otherwise healthy. Someone taking certain kinds of blood pressure meds are supposed to be careful with potassium (bananas), people on blood thinners should be careful with alliums (garlic and onion). When you take medication they tell you what to stay away from usually.
11
Good grief, eat your fruit and veggies. You will feel better and look better. Study that.
73
I take a blood thinner due to heart issues. I am advised not to I eat the cabbage family from kale to broccoli. This article made me wonder if data from people taking blood thinners and not eating cuneiform food would show anything
4
I also take Coumadin for Afib and can eat Broccoli and romaine lettuce in moderation without affect INR. I do offset these greens certain red veggies/fruits such as tomatoes and cranberries
1
@Stephen OBrien Perhaps eating a rainbow of foods daily is the way to go. You may be on to something - ahead of THE SCIENCE!
1
While there is much epidemiological "evidence" that various diets, such as cruciferous vegetables, are "associated" with the incidence of various cancers, this is essentially lazy research. These studies often use a wide variety of control factors, such as age, race, gender, location, etc. to identify the more likely factors influencing cancers.
But few, if any of these studies, delve into the metabolic processes at the cellular level, and especially at the genetic level, as to how the biochemicals in these foods influence the occurrence of cancers.
So the first point a statistics instructor always makes is that "association," as in epidemiological studies, is not conclusive evidence of "causality." But the media still flaunt these studies as worthy of publicity. That just clouds the search for the true relationship between these vegetables and cancer.
22
@pinewood
Fwiw: at NCBI (PubMed) there are many studies
proposing hypotheses, and testing interactions
on cellular (and smaller) levels, using impressive
arrays of instruments....
CABBAGE!
Don't overlook CABBAGE!
Gone MIA here.
47
@AWENSHOK What about Popeye's can of SPINACH? Our mother often instructed us to "Eat your spinach, its good for you!" (Castor oil too).
1
@AWENSHOK I could eat vinegar coleslaw every day!
@AWENSHOK Addicted to cabbage in every conceivable form; steamed, braised, sauerkraut, Cole slaw, raw in salads - I even eat the center stalk raw when I am cutting it up! THE best, thanks for mentioning it!!
1
A friendly warning because this sort of study worries me.
Cruciferous veggies cause gastro problems in many of us. That could make -- especially raw veggies -- hurtful to your children or older people (parents).
I've eaten these delicious veggies for most of my life, but now I can't eat them for various reasons.
#1 is they are hard to digest; that's one reason they work on the rest.
Yes, follow science, but be aware: We are all individuals.
11
@Modaca There is no mention of eating raw vs. cooked vegetables, either. The body can better absorb nutrients from these vegetables if they are adequately cooked. Undercooked cruciferous vegetables served in restaurants is one of my pet peeves. No one in their right mind should eat essentially raw collard greens.
4
@Modaca
I love cruciferous veggies, ate them 6 days a week for many years. Now they cause distress, so annoying. GI doc said it happens to some people. Luckily I can eat chard & spinach, but really miss cauliflower, broccoli & brussel sprouts.
1
@Modaca
steam these vegetables before eating- it makes them much easier to digest
I love broccoli, luccoli.
119
@Richard Grayson: I don't, but your remark gave me a good laugh.
1
@Richard Grayson comment of the year.
I'd like to share a tip.
I buy broccoli in quantity to minimize trips to the store. I learned the hard way that it goes bad. I have figured out that the stems go bad first. Now when I buy it and separate it into portions for cooking I cut off the stems close to the flower and cook/eat them first. For me this is a win as I like the stems, the leaves too. The flowers will stay fresh in a ziploc bag with the air squeezed out for 10 days to 2 weeks in the vegetable crisper drawer. The rest of them don't get smelly or go bad like Broccoli.
I have no idea if it helps with cancer but I know if I have a hunger and I don;t know what I want a portion of Broccoli always hits the spot even if I don't really want it when I start.
23
People look for absolutes where there are none. There is no one diet that will absolutely protect you against all cancers. There are some diets that may help protect you against some cancers. In general, eating a variety of vegetables and fruits with moderate amounts of protein from a variety of sources along with as much exercise as you can manage will contribute to good health but you will eventually die of something. And, as a previous poster mentioned, always look both ways before crossing the street.
25
@willow Sounds like you're spouting (or should I say sprouting) some absolutes about the lack of absolutes yourself. Sure everyone eventually dies, but not everyone dies of cancer. As for looking both ways when crossing the street in NYC, --hey you'll STILL get hit by a maniac on a speeding bike!
9
Unfortunately, you CAN go wrong incorporating a lot of cruciferous vegetables in your diet: see craftsmanship.net/the-vegetable-detective/ which describes how some kale and othe brassica are high in heavy metals such as thallium.
It's better to vary your diet and not overload on any one food. I recently started eating a LOT of canned sardines, herring, and mackerel—fish that are good protein and also high in omega-3 and also are zero WW points, which made them especially attractive for lunch, snacks, and dinner. After a couple of months I had a gout attack: it turns out that they are also high in purines.
23
@Michael Ham A LOT of anything is probably bad. Everything in moderation, as the ancient Greeks said.
18
@Northwoods Cynic
This present-day American asks whether virtuous behavior should also be restricted by your supposed cure-all of moderation.
6
If the vegetables are irrigated by water containing ecoli they are deadly!!!
2
Cruciferous vegetables are "antiangiogenic" which is defined as "a substance that reduces the growth of new blood vessels needed by tumors to grow and metastasize." They are a natural cure.
5
They are nutritious and contribute to a healthy diet. They are NOT a cure for cancer.
32
I have a problem with this sentence: "you cannot go wrong incorporating a lot of cruciferous vegetables in your diet". Patients with thyroid disease are told to avoid vegetables like broccoli and kale because they slow down thyroid function.
13
??
What doctor told you this & when?
Maybe such advice was given a long time ago, I’ve NEVER heard of such a thing & have good reason to know.
First off, even if it’s true that such vegetables can depress thyroid function, I suspect most people would have to consume large amounts of them to meaningfully affect thyroid function.
Next, there are many different types of thyroid disease. Thus, blanket statement re: avoiding such vegetables in “thyroid disease” or “thyroid problems” is meaningless.
Folks, if you have thyroid problems talk to your doctor about this.
This information is sketchy at best.
Plus, even if such vegetables can depress thyroid function, they may not apply to the type of thyroid problem you have.
Also, even if such vegetables can depress thyroid function, depending on the type of thyroid problem & if it’s treated with medication, it’s possible that doses of medication could be changed to compensate for any alteration in thyroid function. Especially if one’s intake of such vegetables is relatively consistent over time.
14
@RAR
This is outdated advice. Many foods including cruciferous vegetables, some beans and some tubers contain "goitrogens" which can exacerbate an iodine deficiency. This is only an issue in those who are iodine deficient and eat a diet composed entirely of goitrogenic foods. In the real world this has only been an issue in very rare, specific circumstances, such as infants fed soy formula 50+ years ago when it was not supplemented with iodine, or certain populations in west Africa that rely solely on cassava as a dietary staple.
7
@TT
Actually, just about everyone is iodine deficient, like 60%
Fluoride (a lighter halide) in the water (which has no science behind the idea that it reduces cavities) replaces your iodine (a heavier halide), leading to the epidemic of hypothyroidism.
Hypothyroidism is mostly an autoimmune response, caused by a reaction to bioactive plant chemistry.
3
As a BRCA2 patient with stage 3C cancer of the peritoneum, I was part of a two year study run by UCLA and University of Arizona called “Lives”. After surgery and five months of intense chemo, I joined the study in February 2015. With weekly phone meetings with my counselor and daily logs kept, I was to do the following:
Exercise regularly, working toward 10,000 steps a day
Eat at least one cup of cruciferous vegetables daily
Eat at least one cup of an red/Orange vegetable daily (beta carotene)
Eat at least 30 grams of fiber daily
Eat no more than 30 grams of fat daily—this included what is considered good fats as in avocado or olive oil
Limit red meat
It’s nearly four years later, and while no longer in the study, I still try to keep to these guidelines, admittedly less rigorously than while in the study. My CA125 numbers, which would indicate if the cancer has returned, are still extremely low. My pet scans are clear. I don’t know if I would still be cancer free if I were not following these guidelines, but I do know I feel healthier than before I got sick!
170
@Stefanie
Those dietary guidelines are basically good healthy eating, we are supposed to get fiber, keep fat down, eat a variety of fruits and vegetables....diets rich in fiber reduce the risk of cancer in most people, high intake of fat has associations with cancer as well. The important part is you are healthy and the way you are eating may or may not prevent cancer coming back, but it certainly isn't harming you:)
4
@Stefanie Glad to hear of your success. My sister also has peritoneal cancer. We are searching for answers now that her CA-125 has begun to rise. Is there a way to find more information from you?
4
Whether it is due to diet or not, this is a wonderful story and I wish you many more cancer-free years!!
11
They're versatile, delicious, and easy to prepare, too.
9
Helpful or not, if you don't find your own personal way to make them taste good(ish), you won't eat them consistently.
5
@Terry
Taste is a completely acquired thing. It's all about how you have been "trained" and it can be reversed. More easily than one imagines.
I used to like a lot of unhealthy foods. Now I can't stand them. Truly.
4
My favorite way to cook broccoli is in an air fryer or convection oven- toss it with some olive oil, salt and pepper and roast at a fairly high (400-425) temp until the florets just start turning brown and crispy. Tastes a little like potato chips!
@Me I scream for ice cream! Ben and Jerry's is to die for IMO.
This article is Way behind the times. The natural human diet is meat, salt, and water. No vegetables at all. None.
In the old days, when we were cavemen for 2.5 million years or so, we mostly lived in ice ages - no plants to speak of. We occasionally ate scrawny plants only when there was no meat. There are no cave paintings of us hunting cantaloupe, just meat. We have the digestive system of Carnivores, because that's what we are. Our digestives system exactly matches that of a dog or tiger.
The many current epidemics of disease are likely due to eating vegetables, plus all other carbs, and dairy also. Specifically, from eating anything other than meat, salt, and water. No coffee either.
Consider "meat only" an elimination diet. It heals the gut membrane (as well as all the cellular membranes and the blood brain barrier and CNS myelin sheaths) eliminating all the auto-immune diseases and more. It also switches you into a fat burner, which is a far better (more energy/molecule and cleaner burning, with half the oxidants of oxidative phosphorylation) than glucose.
Plants are poison. Every single plant has evolved a nasty biological warfare cornucopia designed to attack and destroy insects, fungus, animals, and humans who eat it and its babies/seeds. Plants are 5% (by weight) poison.
Plant nutrients are minimal and barely bioavailable, unlike meat. Check out Zsofia Clemens (or meatheals.com) and you will never eat your vegetables again.
1
Don’t believe this. The link the commenter is pointing to may even be their own business.
No good data to support this & folks are making a TON of money off of what is currently nothing more than a trendy fad that are making a lot of people very wealthy.
There are tons of folks living into their 90’s & 100’s that have eaten plants, dairy, etc. throughout their lives.
Keep in mind that the average lifespan for the caveman was certainly much much shorter than the current average American lifespan.
So even if all the caveman ate was meat, that doesn’t mean that their diet would allow us to live to the average much longer lifespans many of us expect & hope to have.
Also, even if plants are 5% “poison,” what about the various toxins/poisons that we may be exposed to through consumption of non-organic meat & dairy?
Antibiotics, hormones, pesticides, heavy metals like mercury accumulating in fatty fish (assuming these people eat fish), etc. etc.
Even those that obtain their own meat through hunting may be exposed to excess lead levels. If they hunt certain mammals that themselves consume other carnivores that accumulate high lead levels, the lead can rise up the food chain.
Of course, non-organic plants may contain pesticide residues etc as well.
27
@Fourteen
There is absolutely no reason to believe that the conditions in which human beings found themselves 20,000 years ago would somehow miraculously also optimal conditions for the human body and mind.
And our very long intestines bring us much closer to herbivore mammals than to carnivore ones, biologically.
Finally, people with low-meat diets have been proven to live longer and healthier lives.
Time to update your info ... ;-)
44
@Fourteen Alot of evolution in the last 2.5 million years; and archaeological evidence is that hunter/gatherers were opportunistic omnivores. But stick to a meat diet if you want; just 'caveman ancestors' has nothing to do with it.
7
okay, here's my experience. I should say at the outset that I had lung cancer tumor (and partial lobectomy of lung to get the tumor out) a little more than a year ago. I had melanoma at the same time, but it was not invasive. And, I was found to have microscopoic malgnant cells in my prostate in 2014.
so, in 2015 (before or as I was developing the lung tumor, it seems) I began to make broccoli soup with tumeric and black pepper, and drink 2 cups a day, every day, to see if it would bring down my PSA, which was rising. In 4 months it brought it down 10% and in 9 months it brought it down a total of 20%. Since rapidly increaseing PSA indicates prostate cancer is on the move, I felt good about this.
Then I went off my diet, and my PSA went up to it's highest number again within 3 months. But when I saw this, I went back on the broccoli diet, and within 4 months, it went down 20%.
Again, I went off it, and up it went again. I went back on it, and down it went again, 20%, and then 10% more.
Meanwhile, the lung cancer and melanoma showed up. The lung cancer did not spread, thank goodness.
Conclusion: the broccoli soup with tumeric and black pepper part of my diet helped my PSA. I draw no other conclusion re lung or melanoma.
Yours for the taking, if you like.
58
@mrpotatoheadnot. very interesting. Turmeric is used in India plenty in every day cooking, and known to keep one healthy.
11
@mrpotatoheadnot
Recipe please? - Thanks!
5
@mrpotatoheadnot
I too am dealing with PCa so please share your recipe. I also grown broccoli sprouts that I consume daily.
1
I’m surprised this article doesn’t mention the well-understood connection between cruciferous vegetables and kidney stones. As someone who had had them, believe me when I tell you that you *can* go wrong with cruciferous vegetables.
4
@Neutral Observer
Uh ... that's not how science works, remember?
1. Correlation is not causation.
2. One case is not correlation.
3. As a scientist, you're allowed to believe no matter what you want, when you go over a scientific experiments/study that has been proven to be true, you'll find the same results anyhow. You're NEVER asked to just believe a random person though ... ;-)
5
@Ana Luisa
Actually science does not always work as it should.
You should not say "correlation is not causation," as everyone unthinkingly does. Better to say "correlation may or may not be causation," because causation is always correlation.
"As a scientist, you're allowed to believe no matter what you want"
Actually not exactly true. Science is a Trillion dollar industry, where belief and publications are controlled by money and politics and conventional wisdom. Every researcher knows this. And that's why many scientific studies are way off and cannot be replicated. If you go outside the dogma, you get ostracized and destroyed.
"when you go over a scientific experiments /study that has been proven to be true..."
There is no proof in science. Replication is rare and also not proof.
Note that even Physics rests on a miracle. ("Give us one miracle and we will take it from there," i.e. the Big Bang)
2
@Fourteen
Of course "correlation is not causation" means: it's not because there is a statistical correlation that you can be certain that there is causation.
As to you idea that there is no proof in science: tell that those who landed on the moon ... ;-)
And by "believe what you want" I'm referring to the fact that no scientist will just "believe" a statement just because an anonymous comment on the NYT writes "believe me" ... ;-)
8
"One Dutch study reported that women who ate lots of cruciferous vegetables had a reduced risk of colon cancer, but not of rectal cancer."
That's an obvious one. The structure of the colon is quite different from that of the rectum. The lining of the rectum is more like skin, with a high natural rate of cell division to replace cells that were worn off. Any place with a high nature rate of mitosis will predictably a higher rate of cancer.
4
If the mitotic rate of rectal cells is greater than that of the colon, then based on your hypothesis, we’d predict a higher incidence of rectal cancer than colon cancer.
Is that in fact the case? I wasn’t aware of that.
1
@Jay David
In my case, (broccoli+radish) excellent healing
prostate & environs, ... (spinach & mushrooms)
better for rectal vicinity.
Also found that either of above also reversed
senescent loci on tibial plateau, staving off
osteoarthritis.
Wow, mom was right!
9
Eat more vegetables, and replace your meat with them. It's not only good for you, it's good for the planet. The planet, if you haven't noticed, is dying. It needs help to live a little longer.
75
@Umberto
Please do NOT replace meat with vegetables!
Meat is a source of protein, vegetables are a source of vitamines and fibres. That's totally different, even though both are necessary to be healthy.
If you leave out meat (which we all should do indeed, as the red meat industry is responsible for an important part of America's (and as a consequence the world's, as the US has the highest carbon footprint per person in the world) carbon emissions, you HAVE to replace it with proteins.
What's even more, meat (red meat, fish, poultry, ...) contains all 9 essential amino-acids, the building blocks of proteins that our body can't synthesize itself, so you need all 9 of them each meal.
Soy, quinoa and eggs contain all 9 too, but all other sources of protein don't.
There are 3 sources of non-meat protein:
1. cereals and nuts
2. diary products (milk, yoghurt, cheese)
3. beans (including peanuts).
If you don't eat meat, you have to combine two out of those three categories per meal in order to have all the amino-acids that our body needs. And some products only have a very low percentage of protein (milk, for instance), so you also have to make sure that if you don't eat meat, you substitute it with a sufficient quantity of protein sources.
It's because people who become vegetarian so often ignore this that so many of them end up in the hospital, whereas entire cultures have been vegetarian without any problem for centuries and centuries ...
16
@Umberto why do you say it 'needs' to? We want it to, many of us, but 'needs'? What it needs, since both you and I are guessing and projecting here, is for humans to smarten up or disappear. It was, and will be, just fine without us. Believe me.
signed
planetary spokesperson #7,500, 483,207
9
@Ana Luisa
Do you think the cavemen combined their veggies? 2.5 million years of survival in very harsh conditions can't be wrong. They ate meat and only meat.
Plants have few nutrients and those they have are not very bioavailable (just 5% bioavailability). Plus they have plant poisons toward off animals and insects. A study determined that 99.99% of the many poisons we ingest are natural plant toxins (not sprayed on chemicals).
http://jimlund.org/blog/pics/pnas01044-0440.pdf
Consider that we all eat lots of vegetables, yet half of us will die of cancer. The other half will die of heart disease, diabetes, alzheimers, etc, which are at epidemic levels.
That should make you question the conventional wisdom about eating your vegetables.
1
In my life i have known two people who have told me “I don’t eat vegetables.” Both of them later died of cancer.
16
@Paul Ruszczyk
Now compare that with the millions who have died of cancer - and also ate lots of vegetables.
9
Who eats lots of vegetables?
What’s their relative cancer & mortality risk compared with those have YEARS of 100% meat diet?
Where’s your data on all this?
Where are the studies?
If people who ate tons of vegetables died of tons of cancer, what types of cancer were they?
And what are the most common known causes of these types of cancers?
Vegan smokers with lung cancer?
Lots of pickled vegetables (pickling suspected carcinogen) & intestinal tract cancers?
Vegans with alcoholism, chronic hepatitis and/or other liver disease & liver cancer?
Vegans with HPV, minimal cervical cancer screening & cervical cancer?
You need to do better than this.
5
Enjoy a variety of foods in moderation and always look both ways before crossing the street.
75
@wbj
And the maniac bike riders in New York City will STILL run you over!
4
IMO opinion, objectively written. We know that these type of veggies are low cal and have vitamins and minerals that are good.
That is all we know for sure. For every study produced that they cure cancer you have another one that says no.
Ask Well, you just saved Americans untold amounts of dollars (thru all types of insurance)with hypos who read this column to go out and buy every type of cruciferous vegetable and snake oils relating to it from a doctor who believes in it and wants to make money off of it.
1
The factor that needs to be controlled for in these studies is the degree to which the cruciferous vegetables are cooked. The studies conducted in Polish women (who tend to consume a lot of uncooked, fermented cabbage) showed a dose-response effect in preventing breast cancer. I used to work with Dr. Pathak, and she would bring her special Polish slaw to department pot-lucks.
https://www.medpagetoday.com/hematologyoncology/breastcancer/2035
4
@Mary Rossano
Just one other factor needs to be controlled?
What about the hundred or so that one cannot control for? Or the millions of variables we do not yet know about? Nutritional biochemistry is far more complex than the finite variable set of physics. For that reason nutritional advice is always up in the air.
@Fourteen
I agree that an epidemiological study is seldom the last word on a research question, but they supply the best real world data when we want to see if findings from the lab (in vitro or animal studies) can be observed in people. Think about how those two sides of the research community built the case that smoking causes lung cancer and heart disease. For a more thorough explanation of how epidemiologists assess causation, read about Hill's Causal Criteria and know that "specificity" is the one that is the weakest.
When Dr. Pathek described how she designed her study, she (having grown up in Poland) knew that under communism they only had 4 foods available on a regular basis and the raw cabbage salad was something they ate every day. It was a special situation that she was able to take advantage of. Human diets are rarely so consistent. Other evidence that supported the effect included a dose-response protective effect related to the frequency of cabbage consumption and an association with reduced risk and raw cabbage consumption during adolescence. Another strength of the study was that cooked cabbage was not protective, which supports that heat denatures the enzymes in the cabbage. This fits well with other work in animals and cell culture.
While I recognize that no one food or dietary practice will determine my risk of cancer, I do eat more of those chopped cabbage and brussels sprouts salads these days. If 2 servings per week may help, it's worth a try.
1
“The bottom line is that eating more vegetables is good for us” - until we die from vegetable-acquired E.coli infections.
2
That, unfortunately, may be society’s choice.
Irradiation could help, but apparently it has not been accepted by the public, at least in early attempts.
If adults are afraid of vaccines, their reaction to anything with the term “radiation” in it I suspect will be unfavorable.
1
@Alan Rice, MD Oply if we let Trump and the Republicans further destroy regulations and regulators who attempt to protect our food supply.
7
@Alan Rice, MD
Still more likely to get food poisoning from non-vegetable sources. And all the crucifers are better cooked anyway.
1
MOST cancers are currently thought to be due to gene mutations, not the environment.
MOST cancers do not have a definitive cause, just some risk factors. Some risks are more definitive than others. E.g., smoking tobacco (and cannabis) will increase you risk for many types of cancer.
However, nothing you eat will "fight" a cancer you already have. That is a myth.
Eating cruciferous vegetables is nutritious, including low carbs and lots of fiber and vitamins. That is why you should eat cruciferous vegetables.
7
@Jay David
Gene mutations themselves are highly sensitive to what happens in the chemical environment of human cells, and THAT is highly sensitive to lifestyle and overall environmental factors ...
13
@Jay David
"nothing you eat will 'fight' a cancer you already have"
Not exactly correct. Everyone has some cancerous cells in their body, but in most cases the immune system destroys them before they are a problem. Your diet definitely affects your immune function, and this is one of the main ways diet can both prevent and "fight" cancer.
6
@TT
That's right.
We eat about 80,000 meals during our life. Each one almost immediately affects gene expression for good or ill.
Cancer is multi-factorial and, depending on your genome, can be triggered when a nutrient or anti-nutrient (which is best thought of as "information") reaches a tipping point.
2
The answer to every nutritional question is "eat more vegetables."
7
Eating plenty of these vegetables is clearly beneficial - but if you chase them with processed food and sugar you are just wasting your time.
4
Even if they don't fight cancer, they're delicious and good for you in so many other ways. Eat them.
11
@Jennie
So, if vegetables are so delicious and good for you, why do kids hate to eat their vegetables? Maybe they know something we do not.
@Fourteen
Most kids all over the world don't hate vegetables, you know? ;-)
I adored them as a child.
Why? Simply because my parents adored them too and explained how healthy they were.
If you eat vegetables from the start, and avoid taste destroyers such as hamburgers, lots of soda and other "low-quality" fabricated food, vegetables cannot but taste wonderful ... try it for a couple of months, and you'll see ... ;-)
8
@Fourteen My reply is this: Donald Trump hates his vegetables. Do you really want your kids to grow up to be like Donald Trump? The world is struggling to survive with just one!
11
No matter what the nutritional question, the answer is always the same: eat more vegetables.
53
@David
Always the same answer, yet everyone is dying of so many diseases. Animals in the wild do not get sick, why do we? Half of all of us will die of cancer.
Maybe "Eat more vegetables" is wrong!
@Fourteen Animals in the wild don’t get sick? How interesting.
4
@Fourteen
Of course animals in the wild get sick ... .
And by the way, many of them are herbivores, remember?
5
The studies on Cruciferous vegetables should be done on vegetarians who do not eat meat and the data would probably find they have lower cancer rates than meat eaters who also eat vegetables.
6
@Jacquie
Based on...?
I eat meat, but I find I eat far more vegetables than my vegetarian friends who have become connoisseurs of processed carbohydrates. It's the sugar, not the fat.
3
@Steel - MD Anderson recommends plant based diet to lower cancer risk.
https://www.mdanderson.org/publications/focused-on-health/October2017/vegetarian-diet-and-cancer-risk.html
3
@Jacquie
I suspect you are correct. I still will eat meat, though I eat less than I used to for the sake of climate change.
[[Cruciferous vegetables are a good source of fiber and diets high in dietary fiber “convincingly” lower the risk of colorectal cancer.]]
I have a surprisingly high number of friends who "hate" vegetables and wouldn't eat them if, in addition to being healthy, they increased your odds of winning the lottery.
My goal with dinner is to get some sort of cruciferous veggie into dinner several times a week.
I find any version of "Kale, White Bean and Sausage Soup" to be very restorative.
7
Love fresh Broccoli and Cauliflower with Onion, Bell Pepper, shredded Carrots and Asparagus stir fried in Italian Dressing rather than plain oil. The same combo steams well and is served with a drizzle of Italian Dressing. Raw Broccoli and Cauliflower also go into all my homemade garden salads.
8
@David Gregory
YUM!
Promising news for those of us who love these vegetables. I grew up eating at least one dark green vegetable at dinner everyday and have continued to do so. I actually love the taste of broccoli, all dark greens and asparagus and cauliflower. I eat them both raw and cooked. The news that they might be prevent disease makes them all the more appealing. Like a good girl, I will continue to eat my veggies.
14
@maya
For me, a meal without a veg like broccoli is incomplete. Fresh broccoli, steamed just so, with lemon juice is amazing.
14
@maya May you live to be over 100 then!
Cruciferous vegetables are also being recognized for their role in maintaining soil health and reducing pesticide use for farmers. The same compounds discussed in this article are also "biopesticides" that kill soil-borne diseases that affect other crops.
So eating more crucifers is a win/win for consumers and the environment.
48
We eat them almost daily but for a different reason. They are an ideal garden crop for us up north and work both frozen and fresh. However, anecdotal story on children. Our grandaughter came to visit when she was about 4 and had developed an aversion to just about every vegetable from listening to her 4 year old peer group. When my wife told the granddaughter we were having broccoli from the garden, the infamous NO was sounded. However, when the steamed broccoli was put on the table, my wife took a serving and started to eat. When granddaughter asked what grandma was eating, grandma said "trees" because the florets look like mini trees. Granddaughter ate some, liked it, asked for some more. during the visit, we went through all the cruciferaes with various euphemisms. I don't blame the granddaughter for the not quite ready for brussels sprouts. On the last day, grandma went back to explained to granddaughter all that she had eaten by its real name. Wonder and shock but she kept eating her veggies to this day years later and told her peer group they were wrong at 4 years old. What's in a name?
67
My parents called them “trees” as well! And I’ve been in love with broccoli ever since (50 years and counting).
12
@Curiously Different
We had "little trees"and "little cabbages"(brussell sprouts)--my kids still love 'em.
If you are a male over 50, another potential benefit to regularly including these veggies in your diet is they may also boost your testosterone levels. According to nutrition literature, it is believed these type of vegetables may help suppress an enzyme that converts excess testosterone to estrogen in older males.
Along with a daily exercise routine, I add a cup of mixed raw broccoli and cauliflower to my fruit and oatmeal smoothie and hardly notice the taste. I doubt there is scientific proof that that eating these veggies will raise diminishing T levels, but it is certainly causing no harm by trying.
4
My wife loves kale, Brussel sprouts, arugula, and especially broccoli. We would eat one of these nearly every day, mostly broccoli and arugula. Cabbage, collards and turnips less often. She had three different cancers by the time she was 40. She is still alive, eats what she wants to, which still includes most of her favorite leafy greens from our garden. So did these veggies prevent cancer? Nope. Did they help fighting it? Maybe. But she likes them anyway.
38
@SXM Yes, my dearest friend, who is, and always has been, a broccoli fiend (as well as an exerciser par excellence), was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 41. Thankfully, she survived and is still with us (at 66), and still eating her broccoli.
10
Has your wife been tested for a genetic cancer syndrome? Is she immunodeficient in any way? Does she have any underlying major health problems/issues besides history of multiple cancers?
What types of cancers? At what ages? Family cancer history?
3 different cancers by age 40 suggests that something inherent to her physiology is off.
I doubt it’s the vegetables that caused these cancers & I doubt that vegetables could prevent cancer in someone like this.
2
"Ms. Sheth warned it is best to obtain these nutrients through the diet rather than through dietary supplements, since excessive amounts of some vitamins and carotenoids may actually be harmful."
The BEST way to obtain nutrients is through nutritious food. That's been known for a long, long time.
However, people are lazy, and most don't want to give up what they like or are addicted to. E.g., no one except people who do back-breaking work, should eat wheat, rice, corn or potatoes on a regular basis because the ratio of carbs to other nutrients is high. And of the four, wheat is THE most nutritious. Yet many people avoid gluten because they think it's poison (it is not to most people). And what little nutrition potatoes have, other than starch, is in the skin, which most potato products don't have.
7
@Jay David
If you're not diabetic potatoes are quite nutritious. They have fiber, vitamin c, potassium, and iron. You just need a properly functioning metabolism to eat them, not back-breaking work. And the skin thing is a myth.
2
I think we answer these sorts of questions incorrectly. “Nutritionism” as discussed by Michael Pollan obscures the larger context of what we should be eating. We are genetically still the same hunter gatherers and subsistence farmers we were 100k years ago. We have evolved to eat mostly vegetables and nuts, while eating meat and even fruit on a more sparse timeline. So eating vegetables doesn’t so much confer cancer protection as replace the over abundance of meat and processed food calories that are at the core of our food/obesity/cancer/aging health-politics conundrum.
Telling anyone to eat their vegetables is hard when the immediate gratification of the food-industrial complex dominates.
44
@Ronak Shah
We were not farmers 100k years ago. In fact many many of us did not have farming ancestors until 5000 or less years ago
The idea that we are all the same genetically as hunter gather ancestors is not true. There's has been evolution acting on everything from tolerance of lactose to glucose to vitamin D absorption in settled populations
The most important thing is to not overeat in general
9
@Ronak Shah. "We have evolved to eat mostly vegetables and nuts..." Open your eyes while in almost any restaurant, and tell me that your statement is accurate.
1
@Zig
Read the Times and BBC. Just this week it was reported that the tooth of a Neanderthal child (3 years and only 3 years old) was discovered, yes, in North East Africa. And that tooth was a half million years old. I have no idea how that was determined.
If you track modern anthropology, archeology, and Paleoanthropology you will find that within the last decade the definition of how old human civilization is has changed radically. All the societies we once called "Ancient" really are in fact quite young if you understand that human beings have been around for hundreds of thousands of years.
I think it was in 2010 that scientists discovered a bowl with pigment that was created by a human no less than 200, 000 years ago in Africa.
Also, we may HAVE BEEN farming some plants 100K years ago. Check out some research on it.
Broccoli was one vegetable my kids would willingly eat so I served it all the time, chopped & steamed. After my breast cancer diagnosis I thought: how much broccoli do you have to eat for it to be protective. Seriously, I'd always eaten a ridiculous amount. Looking into it I found a lot of good info at nutrition facts.org including this article about how important the timing of chopping may be and the order of cooking. https://nutritionfacts.org/video/second-strategy-to-cooking-broccoli/ Maybe these factors account for some of the variation in study outcomes. Check out Dr. Gregor's other related articles too. I learned that if you can't pre-chop, sprinkle on mustard powder.
14
@Linda
Dr Gieger annoys me sometimes by his absolutism against meat. But, one must give him his due with the research and frankly the fun he brings to the topic of vegetables. And we need as many cheerleaders for vegetables as we can get. If he could only start cities on doing PSAs against sugar and for vegetables (education), he would be a real hero. That's where we need him most. Us NYT readers pretty much "got this."
Sulfuraphane is the key here. What he says is chop it first, let the broccoli sit at least 45 minutes before cooking. Raw and mic’ed are good. I imagine a lot of people (myself included) are already doing this. It’s not like no one cuts and stores vegetables for the week! Another thing he suggests is to sprinkle mustard powder on cooked frozen broccoli, for the same benefit. Boil broccoli - add powder, increases sulfuraphane. Or add fresh greens to cooked greens.
Good article, and thanks for the video link.
3
@Steel
I am allergic to all sulfa compounds .
I don't think I am allergic to Broccoli but I once ended up in the ER after eating a large amount of it with powdered curry.
I eat Broccoli and other crucierfous
plants with caution. I never want that experience again.
And there is no antidote to an allergic reaction to sulfa - none.
And I suffered an anaphlatic shock reaction to sulfa where I almost died.
1
I am sorry but I have my doubts that you are allergic to ALL items that contain the element sulfur.
Your body actually contains various types of “sulfur compounds”
The term “sulfa compounds” is vague & often refers to certain antibiotics such as sulfamethoxazole. There are various classes of drugs, etc that contain sulfur groups & reactivity/allergy often on the particular way in which the sulfur is combined with other “elements” such as oxygen, hydrogen, etc.
You should speak to an expert allergist on the topic.
1
"recent studies have linked unusually high amounts of folic acid — the form found in supplements and fortified foods — to an increased risk of colorectal cancer." That is why Europe does not allow grains, flour, bread, cereal to be enriched with folic acid. The U.S. started adding folic acid to the list of mandatory supplements that are added to our bread in 1997, and within a couple of years the diagnosis of autism increased alarmingly. The same thing happened in Australia. Let's get folic acid supplementation out of bread and see if the rate of autism declines. Pregnant women can take a supplement or eat more vegetables to protect against spina bifida. American women are getting a double dose if they take it in pill form and eat a bowl of cereal or slice of bread.
6
@an observer
The folic acid needs to be present in the very early stages of pregnancy, about week four or so, and so many women get pregnant unintentionally that they wouldn't know to take the supplement until it was too late. It is better to have it in the flour products for everyone so they don't have to think about taking it.
3
@Jennie — it’s the wrong form of folic acid in the enriched products
1
Let’s also go back to the way that autism was previously defined & see what happens.
I now commonly read about all kinds of high functioning individuals diagnosed with “autism.” It’s not even autism spectrum disorder, it’s “autism.”
Back in the day, “autism” was considered an incredibly serious disorder characterized by severe deficits in inter-personal interactions (even eye contact for infants/toddlers), communication, behavior, intellect, etc.
Back in the 1990’s, a highly successful male in a field that depends primarily on interpersonal interactions & understanding of emotion etc. that was also married & had kids in their 20’s WAS NOT given a diagnosis of autism.
Normal, if not superior!
Today, a little social anxiety, some sense of discomfort when dealing with certain others...head on in & see if you’ve got autism. If so, it may be “advertised” to the public as a merit badge of sorts.
Today, quite a few individuals, especially males in certain fields or with certain interests, self-identify as “autistic” or “on the spectrum.” Sometimes it seems at least partly in jest, but often it doesn’t appear to be.
It also occasionally seems to arise after a male has engaged in some sort of “politically incorrect” behavior that he sincerely & self-righteously believes in. Unfortunately, when it leads to more of a backlash than he expects, its time to consider at least a partial “spectrum defense.”
2
You gotta love it when so called nutritionists inadvertently collaborate with the meat and dairy industry to 'sow confusion' regarding what actually protects us from early death. There is no confusion. If you want answers, read epidemiological studies from other societies that do NOT consume the Standard American Diet (SAD) and you will see VASTLY different health outcomes.
American Adventists consume a vegetarian/vegan diet and have a significantly lower incidence of ALL diseases common to those consuming the SAD. According to a major study reported by the National Institute of Health:
"Vegetarian diets in AHS-2 are associated with lower BMI values, lower prevalence of hypertension, lower prevalence of the metabolic syndrome, lower prevalence and incidence of diabetes mellitus, and lower all-cause mortality."
Furthermore, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has classified processed meat as a Group 1 carcinogen, the same classification for smoking cigarettes.
Really, how much more proof do Americans need before admit that eating the Standard American Diet is a practical death sentence?! Sure ice cream tastes good, and so do hamburgers. But when you read the research that is NOT sponsored by the meat and dairy industry, you will easily ascertain that such foods cause a multitude of diseases common to Americans that won't be found in other countries that do not consume the SAD.
It's this easy: eat vegetables, not animal products, live longer.
127
@Regina Valdez
It is really 'easy' and recognized by all Western health agencies - eat a BALANCED diet for optimal and sustainable health.
The focus on eat this subset of a normal diet has long been recognized as non-sustainable for the average person.
10
@Regina Valdez
As far as I'm concerned, I've never understood how anybody can declare that hamburgers "taste good".
As soon as you're used to real food, their taste is so chemical and poor that you cannot be but disgusted.
You have to ALREADY be used to very bad food before you start craving lots of sugar and fats, and once you do, I can imagine that a hamburgers brings some relief.
You can also have a problem with self-care, and never really learned how to cultivate what Julie Simon calls the seven tools of self-care - as not having developed the brain networks that go with this kind of practices actually lowers certain chemicals in your brain, which then distort your mood, and sugar and fats happen to temporarily add those chemicals back into the cocktail of substances that are naturally flooding your brain and body, which effectively lifts your mood - temporarily (just like anti-depressants do, for instance).
Not systematically teaching these tools at school and at no matter what work floor is imho without any doubt one of the main reasons why so many Americans get attached to hamburgers and even start believing that they taste good. It might also be, according to certain studies, one of the main causes of the constantly increase rates of depression and suicide in our society ...
See Julie M. Simon, "When food is comfort".
www.overeatingrecovery.com
(With thanks to the NYT comment that mentioned this wonderful book, a couple of months ago!)
4
@Regina Valdez
It's the sugar not the fat.
12
And thenen I come across information that says our beloved brussel sprouts are high in arsenic? So our bowl of brown rice and brussel sprouts is actually toxic? How are we to balance this out?
14
@Julie Boesky
Wash your brown rice and brussel sprouts. Brown rice can have arsenic too, but it's apparently pretty soluble so washing removes most of it. I'd guess that the arsenic in brussel sprouts also can be washed away.
@Jennie
Or try organic, specifically Lundgren's rice, tested well by Consumer Reports
4
@Julie Boesky
If you care about this then boil rice, don't steep it. In other words, cook it like you do pasta, with much more water than it can absorb. Drain the excess water when it is done cooking. You'll be throwing away arsenic with the excess water.
1
A healthy lifestyle is not just eating cruciferous vegetables. It includes eating other balanced fruits , vegetables, proteins and fats. It includes drinking clean water, breathing healthy air and daily exercise. Brocoli and Brussels sprouts alone will not prevent cancer. But are these studies being conducted with total lifestyle controls or not? Would it be beneficial to study the added benefits of eating vegetables in a controlled lifestyle study?
35
@Lola
So where do you find large numbers of people to lock up and totally control for long periods of time?
So, studies indicate these veg probably do reduce the possibility of cancer. They're also a great diet strategy as they're tasty and filling. I'm surprised to read turnips fit in this group because they seem more like potatoes. I actually have a big one standing by right now that I'll likely bake up for a snack.
4
Summary: an extra "wordy we don't know, but eat them anyway because they're generally good for you."
29
Though most of the scientific researchers involved in cancer research from ketogenic-therapy approach use cruciferous vegetables as necessary components implementing MCT oil or coconut oil. This is because cruciferous vegetables are low-calorie , mineral/vitamin rich and high-fiber foods. Dr. Valter Longo of USC also pays attention to anthocyanins in them. A large number of detoxification specialists, catching attention more often nowadays because of pollution/food contamination, also recommend cruciferous vegetables as sulfur-source foods for methylation- transsulfuration pathways for detoxification in the cells. When it comes to sulfur, most people NEED more of it and not less. This is because sulfur based amino acids are foundational components to many enzymes including the powerful anti-oxidant enzyme glutathione.
However, when the body metabolizes sulfur compounds it produces ammonia as a byproduct. Ammonia is toxic to the body but most individuals are able to easily excrete it through the urine. Unfortunately, some individuals have particular genetic mutations that do not allow them to effectively metabolize and eliminate ammonia and these individuals may need a low sulfur diet, no cruciferous vegetables and other sulfuric foods.
14
You know, I’m one of those people who eats cruciferous vegetables religiously. I’ve been that way for about 25 years now, but trust me there is not one of them that I enjoy. I have terrible eating habits that accompany this passion for these distasteful vegetables and if I let my bad habits get completely out of control, I suffer horrendously.
So let’s see: out of control bad-eating-habits could be eating two boxes of Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes and one box of Sugar Crisps cereal in the last ten days. Would I do that every month? No, but I need to coach myself (like Dwayne Johnson’s character in the latest Jumangi film) every time I pass by the cereal section in my grocery store: “Don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry...don’t cry.”
Oh, and sugared cereal is not my only bane, there’s infinitely more. Anyway, I’m 58 years old, twenty pounds overweight (at 6 feet, 212 lbs), I still workout regularly 3 to 4 days a week, and I eat both good and badly. After my last physical about a year ago, my doctor said that whatever I was doing in my diet had my blood percolating along just great. I have siblings younger than me suffering with sever illnesses, so I don’t come from amazing DNA stock.
For a long time now I have felt that a significant part of my ongoing wellbeing needs to be attributed to routinely eating cruciferous vegetables, the taste of which I truly despise.
Anyway, just say’n...
13
@GPMacD
Mac, you're honest. What I've found, going on my periodic sugar fasts (2 months at a time), is that without a doubt sugar drives all types of food cravings, not just sugar, but chips, sauces, etc.
It will be hard, but why not invest time, effort and energy in yourself and go on an added sugar fast? How I started was by learning first of all that there's no RDA of sugar. That alone told me a lot. So I set a mark for myself - basically I've heard that we should eat no more than 25 grams of sugar per day, so I allow myself to eat anything with 11 grams or less in it (ie, a yogurt drink, or a yogurt). And only one of those per day.
Just play with it, but I can almost guarantee you that if you are still consuming sugar, you are never going to get to your goal, whatever it may be.
6
@GPMacD
I always say it's not the bad things you eat, it's the good things you don't. You're good, IMHO.
3
@GPMacD Same! Except cheeseburgers are to me what sugary cereals are to you.
Vegetables are like medicine, IMO.
A smoothie made with kale or spinach and frozen fruit is an easy way to consume this "medicine".
2
Correction: You can indeed go wrong eating a lot of cruciferous veggies. If you have been prescribed warfarin, you are advised to keep these types of food to a minimum as they are full of Vitamin K which works against the warfarin. Of course, you can have some Vit K, as long as it is consistent - the amount of medication you take will be adjusted accordingly.
23
@kvb
Cauliflower has much less vitamin K than the green cruciferous vegetables.
4
@kvb
Another downside to eating large quantities of cruciferous veggies, is that they can degrade one's thought process.
I ramped up to 4 servings daily, but discovered that my thinking became significantly impaired.
Now, i do 1 or 2 mouthfuls of mixed (broccoli + cabbage + cauliflower) + one radish, morning and night, and have no ill effects.
@kvb
If you have been Rx'ed warfarin, I believe the advice is to continue eating the way you always have - do not decrease or increase anything.
3
Here's the kicker. If a person stops at a fast food joint and has a burger, fries and a coke in place of, let's say, a tuna salad sandwich on multigrain bread and an apple, certainly the person who eats the tuna salad sandwich would have a healthier diet. My point being, is that the diet variables are too great to determine whether a group of vegetables, by itself, will offer protection from cancer or other maladies without the person being on a strict, controlled diet.
23
Be sure to consider ground flax seeds in a cup of fruit and some cottage cheese.
1
@Richard maybe but….tuna contains some toxins and mercury…so might want to avoid ordering tuna every day.
The takeaway I always get when I read about studies that try to determine whether a food group like cruciferous vegetables fights cancer is the unavoidable lack of variable control. You simply cannot identify and keep constant everything else people eat, drink and are exposed to in their worlds. Exposure to carcinogens like radon, pesticides, heavy metals are just a few confounding variables that make studies like this very difficult to extract meaningful data.
53
@a goldstein That is why they study many people at once, to average out the individual risks, and why they compare the test group with another (control) group. Science isn’t perfect, but it’s the best source of knowledge we have. And it’s self-correcting, so it keeps getting better. Furthermore, the evidence regarding dark green veggies is absolutely massive, and it looks as if that eating lots of them is the intelligent thing to do.
Editor’s note: This comment has been anonymized in accordance with applicable law(s).
93
@Jen - I completely agree with your comment. I have been involved in FDA approved clinical drug trials where you see how easily uncontrollable or unknown variables obscure real benefits (or adverse effects) of drugs. This is my hypothesis to account for some gold standard clinical studies not showing statistically significant efficacy as described in the article.
9
@a goldstein
All properly done studies control for variables. This is what statistics and epidemiology are for.