Broccoli may offer protection against liver cancer
Broccoli is known to be useful in prevention of breast, prostate and colon cancer.
The study, led by Prof. Elizabeth Jeffery at the University of Illinois, and published in the Journal of Nutrition, says, ‘The normal story about broccoli and health is that it can protect against a number of different cancers, but nobody had looked at liver cancer.’
Most peoples diet consists of excess saturated fats and added sugars, both of which are stored in the liver and converted to body fat. Such a diet as well as having excess body fat is linked to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).
NAFLD is known to lead to cirrhosis of liver and without treatment NAFLD can progress to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), a cancer having a high mortality rate.
NAFLD may not have signs or symptoms or may include fatigue, pain in the upper right abdomen and weight loss.
‘We decided that liver cancer needed to be studied,” says Prof. Jeffery, “particularly because of the obesity epidemic in the US. It is already in the literature that obesity enhances the risk for liver cancer, and this is particularly true for men.’
The risk of men getting liver cancer increases five-fold if they are obese.
The research model:
Prof. Jeffery and colleagues in earlier research had shown that sulforaphane, broccoli’s cancer-fighting compound is best acquired by eating the vegetable chopped or lightly steamed.
An earlier research had also shown that broccoli, cauliflower or Brussel sprouts being a brassica vegetable could stop the accumulation of fat in the liver, protecting against NAFLD.
Prof. Jeffery and team wanted to see what effect broccoli has on mice with a liver cancer-causing carcinogen.
They categorized the mice into four groups for their study as follows:
- Controlled diet
- Westernized diet (which is a model of how many of us eat today)
- Broccoli in diet
- Diet without broccoli
Prof. Jeffery actually wanted to investigate mice who were obese, not through a genetic component, but through eating a high-fat, high-sugar diet, like many people in the West today.
Results showed that mice who were fed the Westernized diet saw an increase in both the number and size of cancer nodules in the liver. When broccoli was added to the diet, however, the number of nodules decreased, although the size of the nodule did not.
‘That was what we really set out to show,” Prof. Jeffery says. ‘But on top of that, we were looking at the liver health. There are actually two ways of getting fatty liver; one, by eating a high-fat, high-sugar diet and the other by drinking too much alcohol.’ She adds: ‘In this case, it is called non-alcoholic fatty liver, because we didn’t use the alcohol. And it is something that is becoming prevalent among Americans. This disease means you are no longer controlling the amount of fat that is accumulating in your liver.’
Adding broccoli with your meal:
The researchers found that broccoli appeared to decrease uptake of fat into the liver, which increased the output of lipids.
Although adding broccoli to the diets of mice did not make them lose weight, it appeared to bring the liver back into balance, improving their health.
‘I think it’s very difficult, particularly given the choices in fast food restaurants, for everybody to eat a lower-fat diet,’ says Prof. Jeffery. ‘But more and more now you can get broccoli almost everywhere you go. Most restaurants will offer broccoli, and it’s really a good idea to have it with your meal.’
Previous studies have indicated that eating broccoli 3 to 5 times in a week can lower the risk of other cancers.
Adding broccoli to your diet on a regular basis, especially if you eat a high-sugar, high-fat diet, may lower the risk of cancers in general.
