Green vegetables may help fight cancer

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

A study suggests that vegetables from the cabbage family might help certain people to avoid lung cancer.
Some previous work has suggested that cruciferous vegetables - such as broccoli, cabbage and sprouts - might protect against cancer. New light is shed with a study from a team at the International Agency for Research on Cancer. They show that a person's genetic status may play a role in the impact of diet on cancer risk.

The key ingredients of these vegetables are the isothiocyanates. They are eliminated from the body by specific enzymes and the researchers looked at how variants in the genes for these enzymes influenced the individual's response. A group of 2141 patients with lung cancer was compared with a group of 2168 controls from six European countries. Weekly consumption of cruciferous vegetables gave 33 per cent protection in those who had an inactive form of one of the gene and 37 per cent protection in those who had an inactive form of the second gene. The reason is that if the gene that breaks down the active compound is not active, then isothiocyanates stay longer in the body.

If both genes are inactivated, the protective effect of cruciferous vegetables is as much as 72 per cent. But if people have active forms of both genes, these green vegetables do not protect against cancer. This is an interesting insight on how genetics can interact with the influence of diet on the risk of cancer.

Source
The Lancet 29th October 2005

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