Consuming Broccoli in your diet can possibly keep you away from most diseases, especially Cancer.
Recently, Broccoli has grabbed attention due to its various health benefits. One may like it or not, but cannot deny its advantages. India produces 7.8 million tons of Broccoli and Cauliflower. It ranks second after China which produces 9.1 million tons.
Broccoli is known to be rich in various important nutrients and proteins. It belongs to the Cruciferous family (Brassicas) with a large flowering head and stem. It is similar to Cauliflower, but green in colour. Raw Broccoli contains almost 90% water, 7% carbohydrates, 3% protein, and almost zero fat. Broccoli is very low in calories. It provides only 31 calories per 91 grams.
Broccoli is an excellent source of vitamin K, vitamin C, Chromium, and Folic acid. It also provides Potassium and fibre. Vitamin C helps to build Collagen, which forms body tissue and bone. This helps to heal cuts and wounds. Vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant as it protects the body from damaging free radicals.
One study carried out at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, highlights the advantages of consuming broccoli and its effects on controlling Cancer. It was identified that broccoli could produce a natural component called Indole-3-carbinol (I3C). This is known to restore the function of PTEN, which is a well-known tumour suppressor gene.
Tumour suppressor genes- These are the genes in the body which help to suppress Cancer or not allow it to develop in any part of the body. These set of genes play a crucial role in Cancer metabolism. The mutation, deletion or down-regulation of the PTEN gene is known to trigger Cancer. Further, the down-regulation of PTEN gene, causes the WWP1 gene to be amplified.
The WWP1 gene has the capacity to produce an enzyme that can cause complete destruction of the PTEN gene. Further validation was done using Cancer cell model and mice model to understand the mechanism of WWP1.
The studies revealed that the compound I3C from Broccoli, was able to stop the action of the WWP1 gene. Hence, suppression of PTEN gene will not be possible which will enable the body to fight Cancer.
Therefore, restoration and reactivation of the PTEN gene reduces the risk of cancer susceptibility and eating Broccoli may help an individual to fight against Cancer.
Indian authors named Ms Vanitha V, Ms Pushpabharathi N, Ms Kripa KG, Mr Bothiraj KV and Mr Murugan K. had published research work in the journal of the ‘International Journal of Research in Pharmaceutical Sciences.’ The work was titled a ‘Cytotoxic effect of Brassica oleracea on liver cancer cells’ in the year 2018. This study proved that Brassica oleracea have phyto-compounds that can be used as an efficient anticancer drug on hepatocellular carcinoma. This method did not show any adverse effect on the cells and can be a promising treatment for cancer.
Conclusion - We should always make a habit of eating healthy fruits and vegetables in our diet. Not only Broccoli but also all other vegetables have essential nutrients which are required by the body. This will also keep you away from all kinds of diseases and infections.
Editor: Anomitra Dey
References:
1. Yu-Ru Lee, Ming Chen, Jonathan D. Lee, Jinfang Zhang, Shu-Yu Lin, Tian-Min Fu, Hao Chen, Tomoki Ishikawa, Shang-Yin Chiang, Jesse Katon, Yang Zhang, Yulia V. Shulga, Assaf C. Bester, Jacqueline Fung, Emanuele Monteleone, Lixin Wan, Chen Shen, Chih-Hung Hsu, Antonella Papa, John G. Clohessy, Julie Teruya-Feldstein, Suresh Jain, Hao Wu, Lydia Matesic, Ruey-Hwa Chen, Wenyi Wei, Pier Paolo Pandolfi. Reactivation of PTEN tumor suppressor for cancer treatment through inhibition of a MYC-WWP1 inhibitory pathway. Science, 2019; 364 (6441): eaau0159 DOI: 10.1126/science.aau0159
2. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/05/190516142913.htm
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broccoli
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cancer
5. Picture courtesy: https://www.pexels.com/photo/broccoli-161514/
6. Youtube Video link:
