Broccoli is in the group of species called the Brassica oleracea, it’s part of the same family where you’d find cauliflower, brussels sprouts, kale and cabbage.

Broccoli is full of vitamins and minerals but it also has two very important and health promoting chemicals, sulforaphanes and indole 3 carbinols. The indole 3 carbinols help the body metabolise harmful estrogens by increasing the production of the healthy 2-OH estrogen metabolites and lowering the levels of harmful 16-OH metabolites. It is these harmful metabolites that have been linked to various cancers such as breast cancer

Eating broccoli has been shown to help lower prostate cancer by up to 42%, breast cancer (1) by 40% and lung cancer by 39%. With these types of cancer being the highest it would make sense for you to include broccoli into your diet.

Fighting Fat

If that’s not enough for you, broccoli has another benefit, it helps your body clear out toxins. Now from previous articles that I’ve posted about toxins and fat loss, you will know that they are held within fat cells. To help you strip body fat, you must be able to

detoxify properly. We’re coming into contact with over 500 chemicals a day and your body needs all the help it can get to help detoxify them. Eating broccoli once a week really won’t be helping you, it needs to be in your diet daily.

Now you know about the detoxification benefits of broccoli, you must also make sure your liver is functioning optimally to handle the load. Unfortunately for a percentage of the population you will have the gene that leads to impaired liver function. The good news is that the sulforaphanes(3)which are found in broccoli are very powerful inducers of phase two liver detoxification. So worry no more, broccoli comes to the rescue again!

Some people really don’t like the taste of broccoli but they do still want the benefits of it. Well you can get round this by using powdered green drinks. I use the one which is called primal greens. It’s always in stock here at M10 so please drop me an email if you would like to order some.

I hope this bit of information about broccoli will encourage you to add more to your daily meals and you will also benefit from the fat loss it can bring.

Keep checking the website to see more in this series.

References

1.       Clinical Cancer Research, April 2010 - Sulforaphane, a Dietary Component of Broccoli/Broccoli Sprouts, Inhibits Breast Cancer Stem Cell

2.       (J Natl Cancer Inst 1994, 86(2):126-131).

3.       Gerhäuser, C. et. al. Cancer chemopreventive potential of sulforamate, a novel analogue of sulforaphane that induces phase 2 drug-metabolizing enzymes. Cancer Research 1997;57:272-78.