Avoiding broccoli didn’t exactly take years off your life. But may we please suggest you replace it with this other cancer-fighting food? And encourage others to do so?
Cabbage doesn’t get the fanfare other vegetables do. But it should. Especially if it’s red cabbage...
Newsletter #659
Lee Euler, Editor
23 November 2016
Dear President Bush,
We all know how much you hate those little tree-shaped veggies called broccoli. You’ve made that abundantly clear.
Back in 1990, when you were President, you let the world know that you refused to eat broccoli – on Air Force One, at the White House, or anywhere else in America. And by all appearances, you haven’t changed your tune in the past 26 years…
We know this because earlier this year a letter from a five-year-old fan named Cooper failed to change your mind. You tweeted, “His declared love of broccoli is genuine, if unpersuasive.”
I guess this has worked for you. You’re 92 years old. Avoiding broccoli didn’t exactly take years off your life.
But may we please suggest you replace it with this other cancer-fighting food? And encourage others to do so?
Cabbage doesn’t get the fanfare other vegetables do. But it should. Especially if it’s red cabbage.
If you don’t enjoy it, maybe it’s time to try preparing it a different way.
A potent cancer fighter
Cabbage contains many potent anti-cancer substances. One that stands above the rest is glucosinolates that break down into indoles, sulforaphane, and other cancer-preventive substances.
The glucosinolates of cabbage convert to isothiocyanate compounds. These, in turn, prevent many cancers – including cancers of the bladder, breast, colon, and prostate.
Your cell cycle is a rigidly controlled set of steps your cells undergo before they divide into two. Before that final split, a cell must duplicate all its contents, so the two daughter cells are exact clones of the parent.
This means if you can alter specific components of the cell’s cycle, you can keep cancer cells from growing, without killing normal cells.
Sulforaphane – another by-product of glucosinolates – selectively targets cancer stem cells, thereby helping to keep cancer in check.
Certain compounds in cabbage change how your body uses estrogen, which may prevent breast cancer.
Cabbage also boasts powerful antioxidants and anti-inflammatory benefits.
Can cabbage kill this cancer-triggering pathogen?
In case you haven’t heard, researchers have linked H. pylori with stomach cancer.
Back in the 1800s, cancer surgeons thought stomach cancer was linked to ulcers, citing inflammation and persistent stomach irritation. But no one really understood it.
To make matters worse, before the 1980s, dominant dogma attributed ulcers and gastritis to stress and diet.
That changed in the early 1980s when two Australian scientists noticed that most ulcer patients had H. pylori bacteria. Their claims were dismissed amid the belief that bacteria couldn’t possibly survive in stomach acid.
To prove his point one of the scientists, Barry Marshall, heroically drank a broth containing H. pylori. Sure enough, he quickly got gastritis. Fortunately, that was before antibiotic resistance had become widespread, so he was able to cure himself of his self-induced illness with antibiotics.
Today, it’s widely accepted that H. pylori triggers ulcers and chronic gastritis.
Chinese study reveals a secret link
Meanwhile, other researchers tried to tease out stomach cancer triggers.
In the 1970s, a large South American study showed that long-term stomach inflammation is often associated with stomach cancer. A link, but still no proof of how one caused the other.
But scientists also knew that stomach cancer rates were highest in infection-prone areas.
Finally a 1990 study collected blood samples from Chinese men of all ages living where H. pylori infections were rampant… then matched them to death records. The results were shocking. Stomach cancer deaths were the only cancer deaths related to H. pylori infection.
Today stomach cancer is the second biggest cancer killer worldwide. If you have H. pylori infection, you’re a whopping six times more likely to develop stomach cancer than if you don’t.
What does this have to do with cabbage? Plenty!
Cabbage juice contains a huge amount of vitamin U. Technically it’s not a vitamin… it’s an enzyme called S methylmethionine and sometimes dubbed “cabbagen.”
Vitamin U effectively promotes rapid healing of peptic ulcers.
Cabbage also stimulates your stomach to produce acid. And while you might not think that’s a good thing, it is. Many people have low stomach acid, which it turns out is a hidden cause of digestive issues. Low stomach acid drastically boosts your risk of infections.
So enjoying a few teaspoons of cabbage juice (or better yet, fermented cabbage juice from sauerkraut) before meals can do wonders for your digestion.
Red cabbage or green cabbage?
Not all cabbage is the same. Red cabbage isn’t the same as green. And it’s not just about looks. It’s about nutritional profile.
To be clear, no matter what color cabbage you eat, you can hardly go wrong.
They’re both low in calories, high in fiber and nutrients. Cabbage is ranked fifth on the Environmental Working Group’s list of the “Clean 15” veggies, containing less pesticide residue than other produce.
As vegetables go, cabbage is also pretty inexpensive.
But make note of these differences between red and green.
Red cabbage – or purple or blue depending on soil pH – contains ten times more vitamin A than green cabbage. One cup of chopped red cabbage provides a third of your recommended daily intake of vitamin A. An equal amount of green cabbage only gives three percent.
Vitamin A helps prevent early stage macular degeneration from progressing to blindness. It promotes healthy teeth, skin, tissues, and immune system.
Then there’s vitamin C…
One cup of chopped red cabbage has 51 milligrams, whereas green cabbage only contains 37 milligrams.
Anti-inflammatory nutrients called anthocyanins are only found in red cabbage. They give it the red or purple color. Besides their anti-cancer benefits, these nutrients help improve memory and promote weight loss.
Iron carries oxygen to your cells for energy and DNA synthesis. Your immune system needs it to fight viruses. Most of us don’t need more iron (you should not take iron supplements, for example, unless a blood test shows you need them.) But you do need some iron, and if you don’t eat red meat you need to find vegetable sources for the mineral.
Red cabbage has twice the iron of green cabbage.
But green cabbage outshines red cabbage for vitamin K (for blood clotting and bone density). One cup of chopped green cabbage provides 57 percent of your daily requirements, compared to just 28 percent in red cabbage. Low vitamin K equates to increased risk of hip fracture.
Best ways to prepare cabbage
To get the most from your cabbage, eat it raw or barely cooked (tender-crisp). Otherwise you’ll lose its anti-cancer effects. All cooking methods reduce anthocyanins, glucosinolates and other nutrients. And skip the microwave. It destroys cancer-fighting enzymes.
Cabbage is popular as a primary fermented vegetable. Sauerkraut is an excellent choice, and try to get it unpasteurized, because it will then be rich in probiotics.
Other do’s and don’ts:
- Use firm, undamaged, unblemished heads of cabbage. No limp leaves.
- Buy the whole head – not pre-cut or shredded, as the processing loses nutrients to oxidation.
- Drink your cabbage juice fresh. Don’t refrigerate.
- Limit yourself to four ounces of cabbage juice at once. Best, drink small amounts three times a day on an empty stomach.
- If you have a thyroid disorder, avoid large quantities of cabbage. It can interfere with iodine absorption.
- Rotate the various types of cabbage into your diet for broadest health benefits.
- Cabbage may trigger gassiness in some people.
For a tasty cabbage superfood salad, mix shredded cabbage, chopped kale, carrots, golden beets, orange slices, green onions, Goji berries, raw cashews, sunflower seeds, orange juice, one to two teaspoons sesame oil, sea salt… and sesame seeds for garnish. How much you use of each ingredient is your choice. Enjoy!
http://www.cancerdefeated.com/open-letter-to-worlds-most-famous-broccoli-hater/3892/
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