Cancer and Cruciferous Vegetables.

A study conducted at Rutgers University found that an isothiocyanate compound

known as sulforaphane (SFN) that occurs in cruciferous vegetables such as
broccoli,cabbage, brussel sprouts,and cauliflower may help lower the risk of
developing hereditary cancers from genetic deformities. The research was published
online on May 4, 2006, in the journal Carcinogenesis.

Because the compound had previously been shown to help prevent the development of
some chemically-induced (from radiation and synthetic chemicals and drugs)
cancers, researchers involved in the current study sought to determine whether
sulforaphane could also inhibit cancers arising because of genetic problems.

Rutgers Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy professor of pharmaceutics, Ah-Ng Tony

Kong and his colleagues used mice bred with a gene that switches off a tumor
suppressor gene known as APC, leading to the spontaneous development of intestinal
polyps. APC is the same gene that is inactivated in the majority of human colon
cancers. The team fed one group of animals diets supplemented with 300 parts per
million (ppm) of sulforaphane, and a second group received 600 ppm for three
weeks. A control group of mice from the same strain received unsupplemented diets.

At the end of the three week period, mice who received the diet enhanced with the
lower dose sulforaphane had 25 fewer polyps, and those who received the higher
dose had 47 percent fewer polyps than the control mice. In addition, tumors were
smaller with higher apoptotic and lower proliferative indices in the intestines of
the mice that received sulforaphane. The researchers found that sulforaphane
suppressed enzymes known as kinases that are expressed in mice and humans with
colon cancer.

"Our research has substantiated the connection between diet and cancer prevention,
and it is now clear that the expression of cancer-related genes can be influenced
by chemopreventive compounds in the things we eat," Dr Kong stated.