Another Reason to Eat Your Greens

A NZ research team has discovered cancer fighting properties in cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli and cauliflower. Researchers at the Christchurch School of Medicine and Otago University’s Health and Sciences found that compounds called isothicyanates in cruciferous vegetables can help kill cancer cells which are resistant to other treatments. “This has provided us with a very valuable clue,” says study leader Dr Mark Hampton of the Free Radical Research Group. “Isothicyanates alter many different proteins in a cell, but by focusing on proteins that are only modified by the isothicyanates that kill cancer that could potentially control cell death.” The ground-breaking study has been published in the American journal Cancer Research.