Boosting Broccoli's Anti-Cancer Effects

There are ways of boosting bacteria in the lower gut to have your body absorb sulforaphane – the anti-cancer compound in broccoli, concluded a research carried out at the University of Illinois.

The anti-cancer booster is the intestinal microbiota, which many scientists suspected for a while now, without having evidence for or against it.

Elizabeth Jeffery, a U of I professor of human nutrition and colleagues Michael Miller and Ren-Hau Lai, have proven the boosting effect by injecting glucoraphanin (the parent substance of sulforaphane) into rats' cecum and proving that sulforaphane is present in the blood from the mesenteric vein – which goes from the gut to the liver.

Jeffery said that “the presence of sulforaphane in measurable amounts shows that it's being converted in the lower intestine and is available for absorption in the body.”

The cecum is very similar to the human colon, as it houses bacteria that aid in digestion and metabolism.

Michael Miller says that there are two ways bacteria in the colon could be manipulated to get a boost out of broccoli.

“One way might be to feed the desirable bacteria with prebiotics like fiber to encourage their proliferation.

“Another way would be to use a probiotic approach—combining, say, broccoli with a yogurt sauce that contains the hydrolyzing bacteria, and in that way boosting your cancer protection.”

“This discovery raises the possibility that we will be able to enhance the activity of these bacteria in the colon, increasing broccoli's cancer-preventive power,” said Jeffery.

"It's also comforting because many people overcook their broccoli, unwittingly destroying the plant enzyme that gives us sulforaphane.

“Now we know the microbiota in our digestive tract can salvage some of this important cancer-preventive agent even if that happens,” she added.

Bacteria are not always harmful, Jeffery said and “one of the things we don't think about very much is the enormous amount of benefit we experience when a healthy community of bacteria colonizes the lower intestine.”