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International Specialty Supply Supplying Sprout Companies Throughout the World
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Broccoli Sprouts Join War on Cancer The
Sunday Telegraph Catherine
Elsworth 09-28-1997,
pp 08. SUPER
BROCCOLI, said to have powerful properties which help to prevent cancer, could
soon be on sale in supermarkets. The new form of the vegetable contains very
high concentrations of the compound sulphoraphane, which acts as an anti-cancer
agent by encouraging the body to attack dangerous chemicals that cause
malignancy. The
chance discovery was made after American scientists in Baltimore found that
broccoli sprouts harvested after just three days contained up to 50 times the
concentration of sulphoraphane as the mature plant. The development was welcomed
last night by British researchers who since 1992, when the protective qualities
of sulphoraphane were first discovered, have been investigating how the
anti-cancer properties of vegetables can be controlled. Resembling
bean sprouts, the new broccoli is grown in laboratories using normal seeds.
Although not genetically modified, it contains consistently high concentrations
of the anti-cancer ingredients and has a pleasant, tangy taste. The team behind
it believe the broccoli could be on supermarket shelves by next year. Paul
Talalay, a professor of pharmacology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in
Baltimore, who led the research, has for 20 years been concentrating on "chemoprotection",
the attempt to boost the body' s own defenses against carcinogens. "We
started growing these seeds in the laboratory and made the totally unexpected
discovery that they contained enormously high quantities of the substances that
boost the protective enzymes," Prof Talalay said. "This
a major milestone in a very long organised research programme to develop
strategies for preventing cancer." The
new sprouts would enable consumers to eat only a fraction of the amount of
shop-bought broccoli to produce the same effect, he added. The development has
excited researchers at the Institute of Food Research in Norwich, who are
investigating a range of "super vegetables". A
discussion on "super broccoli" will be held at the IFR this week as
part of its session of open days.
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