ABSTRACT
People’s diet offers a greater and more diverse group of plant bioactives than do drugs, but people often do not realize that many drugs are derived from the compounds originally discovered in plant foods. Numerous epidemiological studies indicate that Brassica vegetables in general, and broccoli in particular, protect humans against cancer since they are rich sources of glucosinolates as well as possess a high content of fl avonoids, vitamins and mineral nutrients. One unusual phytotherapeutic role of
broccoli is for skin diseases-the juice of the leaves is used to treat warts. However, the main use of broccoli stems from its health-promoting properties (Moreno et al., 2006). Some criteria have been proposed to evaluate the possibilities of developing new “functional foods” to reduce the risk of specifi c cancers; largely in broccoli, which is associated with cancer protection. Processing conditions, transport, domestic cooking, etc., affect the health promoting properties of broccoli which have been widely studied. Two different kinds of sulfur-containing phytochemicals are present in all Brassica vegetables (broccoli, cabbage, etc.). They are glucosinolates and S-methyl cysteine sulfoxide. These compounds show quite different toxicological effects and appear to possess anticarcinogenic properties. Glucosinolates have been extensively studied since the mid-nineteenth century. They are present in plant foods besides Brassica vegetables with especially high levels in a number of seed meals. About 100 different kinds of glucosinolates are known to exist in plant kingdom, but only about 10 are present in Brassica. The fi rst toxic effects of isothiocynates and other hydrolytic products from glucosinolates are goiter and a general inhibition of iodine uptake by the thyroid. Numerous studies have indicated that the hydrolytic products of at least three glucosinolates (glucoraphanin, gluconasturtiin and glucobrassicin) have anticarcinogenic activity. Indole3-carbinol, a metabolite of glucobrassicin has inhibitory effects on human breast and ovarian cancers.
