Sprout Power

Broccoli sprouts recently found themselves in the spotlight at the American Association for Cancer Research’s fourth annual Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research meeting. Promising new evidence shows that broccoli sprouts, or more specifically the sulforaphane compounds found in them, inhibit Helicobacter pylori bacterial infections—known to cause gastritis, peptic ulcers, and stomach cancer—and thereby block the formation of cancerous gastric tumors. In a study of 40 people infected with H. pylori, 20 received 100 grams of broccoli sprouts with their daily food and 20 ate the same amount of alfalfa sprouts, which are almost chemically identical but lack sulforaphane. Those in the broccoli group showed significantly less infection—after only two months.

No worries about H. pylori for you? Then consider wearing your sprouts, or at least a lotion made of sulforaphane. When extracted from broccoli sprouts (and other cruciferous vegetables), sulforaphane has shown promise in counteracting the body’s cancer-causing response to ultraviolet light. In fact, mice that received a high dose of sulforaphane solution on their backs after UV exposure had half the tumor incidence of those who received a solution without it. While the lotion won’t be a green light to scorch your skin in the sun, according to the study’s lead scientist, Albena Dinkova-Kostova, “Our findings suggest a promising strategy for skin cancer prevention after exposure to UV light.”

—Leigh Eising

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