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Back to The Natural Vegetables ;Such as Combination of Tomato / Broccoli Diet and Reduce Your Cancer Risk

Why eat broccoli? Besides being a good source of calcium, potassium, folate and fiber, broccoli contains phytonutrients — a group of compounds that may help prevent chronic diseases, such as heart disease, diabetes and some cancers. Broccoli is also a good source of vitamins A and C — antioxidants that protect your body's cells from damage.

Learn to love broccoli. A 10-year study conducted by researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health indicates that a high intake of cruciferous vegetables, such as broccoli and cabbage, may cut the risk of bladder cancer in men. Although eating plenty of fresh vegetables and fruits is important for overall health, only broccoli and cabbage seem to affect bladder cancer risk. The Harvard doctors studied only men, and it's not known if the results apply to women.

When your body digests green vegetables such as broccoli and kale can inhibit the growth of human prostate cancer cells, according to research.Vegetables such as broccoli, Brussels sprouts, kale and cauliflower are rich sources of indole-3-carbinol (I3C), which the body converts into 3,3'-diindolylmethane DIM during digestion.

DIM acts as a powerful anti-androgen that inhibits the spread of human prostate cancer cells in culture tests. Androgen is a necessary hormone for the normal function of the prostate, however it also plays a role in the early stages of prostate cancer. Prostate cancer in the early stages is typically treated with anti-androgen drugs. In later stages of the disease, cancer cells typically develop resistance to androgen.

Another fascinating recent research findings is that an adequate eating of tomatoes and tomato products that include lycopene can reduce the risk of suffering and dying from cancer. The Life Ahead global analysis that follows shows that a reasonably moderate intake of tomato products may cut risk of all kinds of cancer in half. In fact, no other known single dietary health action may be able to provide the cancer protection possible from the eating of tomato products.

A landmark review of this subject was published in a paper by Dr. Edward Giovannucci in 1999 (J Natl Cancer Inst 91:317). 57 of a remarkably large number of 72 studies confirmed cancer benefits for higher tomato intake or lycopene blood levels. About half of the studies found reduced risks of cancer of 40%. This action taken regularly can add more than 2 years of Well-Days to the potential life of an average US 50 year old man or woman that now consumes no tomato products. This benefit appears derived from the high lycopene content of the tomato that is not provided similarly in other foods. Life Ahead shows for any entered diet a deficiency in lycopene in addition to any deficiencies of up to 19 other key nutrients and identifies alternative diet changes needed to reduce the related risk to target levels.

Broccoli and tomato -- two vegetables known to help fight cancer -- are more effective against prostate cancer if they're eaten together as part of a daily diet than if they're eaten alone, a new study with rats suggests.

University of Illinois researchers fed a diet containing 10 percent broccoli powder and 10 percent tomato powder to a group of rats that had been implanted with prostate cancer cells. Other groups of rats received either tomato powder or broccoli powder alone; a supplemental dose of lycopene (the red pigment in tomatoes believed to be an anti-cancer agent); or finasteride, a drug prescribed for men with enlarged prostates. Another group of rats was castrated.
After 22 weeks, the researchers found that the combined tomato/broccoli diet was the most effective at prostate tumor reduction. Of the other treatments, castration was the only one that came close to being as effective.

"When tomatoes and broccoli are eaten together, we see an additive effect. We think it's because different bioactive compounds in each food work on different anti-cancer pathways," study co-author John Erdman, a professor of food science and human nutrition, said in a prepared statement.

"Older men with slow-growing prostate cancer who have chosen watchful waiting over chemotherapy and radiation should seriously consider altering their diets to included more tomatoes and broccoli," added study co-author and doctoral candidate Kirstie Canene-Adams.

"To get these effects, men should consume daily 1.4 cups of raw broccoli and 2.5 cups of fresh tomato, or 1 cup of tomato sauce, or 1/2 cup of tomato paste. I think it's very doable for a man to eat a cup and a half of broccoli per day or to put broccoli on a pizza with 1/2 cup of tomato paste," Canene-Adams said.