WT article on crucifers and cancer

[Guest guest]

The discussion on cancer treatment stuck in my mind and I looked up

brassicas (cruciferous vegetables) on the WAPF site. This article by

Masterjohn (see his site at http://www.cholesterol-and-health.com/)

is extremely long and shouldn't be reduced to any simple conclusion,

but here are a few key paragraphs (but please read the whole article

at: http://www.westonaprice.org/basicnutrition/crucifers.html )

Article Summary

The use of cruciferous vegetables—those in the cabbage family—began

7,000 years ago in China and spread throughout Europe during the

Middle Ages. The oldest writings emphasize the medicinal utility of

crucifers, but these vegetables have now gained culinary importance

worldwide.

When raw crucifers are chewed, or when microwaved and steamed

crucifers are digested by intestinal bacteria, they release substances

called goitrogens that increase the need for iodine when consumed in

small amounts and can damage the thyroid gland when consumed in large

amounts.

These goitrogens also inhibit the transfer of iodine into mother's milk.

Steaming crucifers until they are fully cooked reduces the goitrogens

to one-third the original value on average. Since release of the

goitrogens from steamed crucifers depends on intestinal bacteria,

however, the amount released varies from person to person.

Boiling crucifers for thirty minutes reliably destroys 90 percent of

the goitrogens.

Fermentation does not neutralize the goitrogens in crucifers. When

foods like sauerkraut are consumed as condiments, however, the small

amount of goitrogens within them is not harmful if one's diet is

adequate in iodine.

An increased dietary intake of iodine compensates for the consumption

of moderate amounts of crucifers but cannot reverse the effects of

large amounts of crucifers.

Paradoxically, the goitrogens found in crucifers may offer some

protection against cancer. The jury is still out on whether or not

this is true.

The use of sauerkraut as a condiment and several servings of steamed

crucifers per week is probably beneficial. People who consume more

than this amount, especially lactating mothers, should be sure to

obtain extra iodine in their diet from seafood. People who make

liberal use of crucifers on a daily basis should boil a portion of

them to avoid excessive exposure to goitrogens.

The safety of concentrated sources of crucifer-related chemicals such

as broccoli sprouts or supplements containing indole-3-carbinol (I3C)

and 3-3'-diindolylmethane (DIM) is questionable. These supplements

should be avoided until continuing research can further elucidate

their risks and benefits.

And some excerpts from the main article:

.. . .The current cutting-edge hypothesis explaining the association

between cruciferous vegetables and cancer is that crucifers primarily

confer benefit upon people who for genetic reasons exhibit a very

sluggish rate of detoxification. There are two competing explanations

for this phenomenon: crucifer toxins " wake up " the sluggish

detoxification and raise it to a normal level in these people, in turn

eliminating their increased risk for cancer; alternatively, cancer

cells within the tissues of those who detoxify the cruciferous

chemicals more slowly will be exposed to their anti-carcinogenic

effects for a longer period of time. This hypothesis has gained

substantial support but has also encountered surprising contradictions

(see sidebar on page 43).

It will be interesting to see what the continued investigation into

these hypotheses can tell us about the relationship between crucifers

and cancer. In the mean time, however, we would be wise to interpret

the uncertainty within the context of our understanding of the

primitive diets that we know have produced superb health in those

consuming them. . . .

According to the United States Department of Agriculture, green

vegetables retain most of their nutrients when we boil them and drain

the water. They do lose, however, 45 percent of the vitamin C, 20

percent of the thiamin and 40 percent of the folate.42 If one makes

liberal use of crucifers on a daily basis it may be wise to boil them

rather than steaming them, especially if one has any signs of thyroid

problems. This is especially true of Brussels sprouts, which produce

much higher levels of cyanide-generating nitriles than the other

crucifers.

This is a minority view. Crucifers are currently widely extolled, not

despite their toxins but because of them. Dr. Fuhrman argues in

Eat to Live that much of the scientific evidence is conflicting

because we simply do not eat enough crucifers and other green leafy

vegetables to experience their full range of health-promoting effects.

He recommends eating a minimum of two pounds per day of leafy

vegetables and places crucifers at the top of his nutrient density

ranking because he counts their glucosinolates as nutrients rather

than toxins. Although Fuhrman may represent the opposite extreme, many

more moderate authors recommend several servings per day of crucifers

to obtain the putative benefits of glucosinolates.

It is not difficult, however, to find the contrary view expressed in

other parts of the world where crucifer consumption is much higher

than in ours. In Indian journals, for example, crucifers are blamed

for the endemic goiter that iodine fortification has failed to

eliminate.13 In Japan, crucifer consumption may be associated with

thyroid cancer.14

Many of the groups Price studied ate little in the way of green

vegetables and even less in the way of crucifers, yet exhibited a

remarkable immunity to cancer. While crucifers may make important

contributions as minor constituents of some diets, it would be a

mistake to jump on the current bandwagon exaggerating their role in

cancer prevention and promoting newfangled and experimental foods like

broccoli sprouts rich in chemicals that our ancestors would have

leached into running water for days to eliminate. We should learn our

lessons about how to prevent cancer not from the subtle distinctions

between various states of disease we observe in our own society but

from groups like the Strait Islanders, the Eskimos and the

North American Indians whose physicians went decades at a time unable

to find a single case of cancer among them. The traditions that these

groups kept bore fruit, by which we know that they continue to bear

wisdom.

There is also a sidebar on " Glucosinolates and Processing: A Closer

Look. "

Cheers,

Jeanmarie