When it comes to
vegetables, if it tastes bad, it’s probably good for cancer prevention. That’s the opinion of researchers at Quebec University who tested extracts from 34 vegetables against eight types of tumor cells. You guessed it: broccoli and Brussels sprouts kicked butt, while the popular kids of our vegetable diet –potatoes, lettuce, tomatoes and carrots, were much less effective. The Tufts Health & Nutrition Newsletter reports on the study, and points out that the popular veggies account for 60 percent of our vegetable consumption. The newsletter reports that extracts from cruciferous vegetables, a group that includes broccoli, kale, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and cabbage, significantly inhibited the growth of all the types of tumor cells (stomach, lung, breast, kidney, skin, pancreas, prostate and brain). The researchers were also impressed with the cancer-preventative abilities of extracts from vegetables in the botanical genus Allium, which includes garlic, onions, leeks and shallots, foods that, the researchers note, make up only a “minuscule†part of the typical diet. The more popular potatoes, lettuce, tomatoes and carrots did almost nothing against the tumor cells. Hmm, the researchers found that the anti-cancer properties of vegetables were unrelated to their antioxidant content.