Jed W. Fahey, ScD
Jed W. Fahey, ScD, faculty research associate, department of pharmacology and molecular sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland.
Former President George H.W. Bush famously said, “I do not like broccoli… I’m President of the United States and I’m not going to eat any more broccoli.” However, even those who don’t like this cruciferous vegetable might want to give it another try, given the mounting research about its amazing health benefits. For a number of years studies have shown an association between compounds in broccoli and lowered risk of some cancers. Other research shows broccoli to be protective of the lungs and even helpful in protecting smokers from lung cancer.
Now another study involving broccoli compounds, from the University of Warwick (Coventry) in the United Kingdom, reveals that it may help protect and repair cardiac blood vessels damaged by diabetes. People with diabetes have high levels of oxidative stress caused by damaging free radicals. This makes them more likely than healthy people to develop cardiovascular disease, leading to heart attack and stroke. Researchers found that when placed in human cells, sulforaphane (a phytochemical found in broccoli) acted to reduce oxidative molecules while also activating a protein that protects cells and tissues from oxidative stress.
I spoke with Jed W. Fahey, ScD, who has been studying broccoli’s health effects at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine for many years. In fact, Dr. Fahey’s colleagues, Paul Talalay, MD, and Yuesheng Zhang, MD, PhD, were the ones who first isolated and identified sulforaphane. Dr. Fahey says that sulforaphane is a kind of isothiocyanate, one of a wide family of compounds that act as indirect antioxidants, which work differently than direct antioxidants, producing a longer-lasting benefit that is protective against many cancers. All vegetables in the brassica family, including cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, kale and collard greens, have isothiocyanates, says Dr. Fahey. Broccoli is a good source of sulforaphane, but you may remember from another recent Daily Health News article that broccoli sprouts are even more powerful — Dr. Fahey told me they contain 10 to 100 times more sulforaphane than that found in broccoli itself.
Dr. Fahey and his team are now completing studies on other potent vegetables. You can do a lot for your health right now by keeping broccoli — or even better, broccoli sprouts — in your refrigerator and eating ample amounts — he suggests approximately 5½ cups a week.
