14 DAY TRIAL // Of all the things we ordinary folks would expect scientists to even think about improving on, broccoli would probably be the last on the list. Still, it looks like this is precisely what a team of researchers has achieved: creating an “upgraded” version of broccoli.
Writing in the Journal of Agricultural & Food Chemistry, the researchers say that, by spraying a hormone extracted from plants on said vegetable, the latter ended up growing healthier and better at fighting cancer than it normally would have.
According to Science News, the plant hormone, i.e. methyl jasmonate, used in this investigation upped the concentration of cancer-fighting enzymes that are already present in broccoli.
The researchers who worked on this project hope that, in time, their experiments will help scientists and people in the agricultural industry grow superior broccoli.