Incredible Benefits Of Broccoli
🔸What is Broccoli?
Broccoli is a cruciferous vegetable, which belongs to the Italica cultivar group of Brassicaceae oleracea like cabbage and cauliflower. The most commonly eaten parts of it are the green or purple flowering heads, which are shaped like a tree, coming off a thick and edible stalk.
🔸What Does Broccoli Taste Like?
Raw broccoli generally has a mildly bitter taste like a cabbage. People with a particular receptor gene are sensitive to some flavors and find it extremely bitter and unpleasant. This taste is because of the presence of natural compounds called glucosinolates.
🔸Health Benefits of Broccoli
Health benefits of this cruciferous vegetable include the following:
Prevents Chronic Diseases
Broccoli contains certain phenolic compounds that help keep chronic diseases at bay. This lowers your chances of developing diabetes, asthma, heart disorders, and many other lethal diseases, thereby, decreasing mortality. Broccoli is most effective when consumed with other healthy, disease-preventing foods that are not processed.
🔸Liver Health
A 2016 report published in the Journal of Nutrition revealed that broccoli can help to keep your liver functioning at its optimal level by lessening the development of fatty liver and liver cancer.
🔸Anti-inflammatory Properties
A 2014 study published in the Preventive Nutrition and Food Science Journal suggests that broccoli florets have potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. It has antioxidants like vitamin C, potassium, magnesium, sulforaphane, kaempferol, and many others, which makes this cruciferous vegetable good for relieving inflammation.
🔸Anti-aging Properties
Broccoli combats the aging process with the help of a compound called nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN) present in it. NMN promotes the production of a compound that triggers metabolism and hence prevents genetic changes that lead to premature aging. Antioxidants like vitamin A, vitamin C, and collagen also play a key role in delaying aging.
🔸Controls Diabetes
A 2012 study published in the International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition, suggests that broccoli sprouts may improve insulin resistance in type 2 diabetic patients. To elaborate, it suggests that sulforaphane and kaempferol in this cruciferous food might have the ability to lower blood sugar levels in those who have Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus diabetics, thereby helping control it. Broccoli in addition to a heart-healthy, carbohydrate-controlled diet is always encouraged for the best results when it comes to blood glucose control.
🔸Improves Metabolism
Nutrients such as fiber, vitamin C, vitamin D, vitamin K, folate, and vitamin A in broccoli assist in boosting the body’s metabolism. Fiber, especially, shows a TEF (thermic effect of food) and can increase your metabolic rate after eating. It also promotes satiety by having a good amount of dietary fiber.
🔸Anticancer Potential
Broccoli has anti-cancer potential and it is particularly beneficial for breast cancer and uterine cancer. Dr. Jay Fowke, University of Massachusetts, as part of his dissertation, “A Dietary Strategy to Reduce Breast Cancer Risk,” revealed that it could help produce a positive shift to the metabolites of estrogen called 2 hydroxyestrone ie. 2-OHE1 in post-menopausal women. Daily consumption of 500 grams or merely an over a pound of broccoli, twice a day, helped bring down the estrogen levels in the body. Additionally, it demonstrated that it may be an important component of a strategy to reduce breast cancer risk. However, it is not realistic to expect people to eat this amount every day and further studies are required to study the potential of an extract.
Senior researcher, Jed W Fahey, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, in his report published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, stated that broccoli has the presence of strong anti-carcinogenic compounds like sulforaphane, glucoraphanin, diindolylmethane, isothiocyanates, beta-carotene, and selenium in it. Other nutrients that act as anti-cancer agents are vitamin C, A, and E, zinc, potassium and certain amino acids.
🔸Detoxifies the Body
The presence of vitamin C, sulfur, and amino acids make broccoli a good detoxifier. It helps remove free radicals and toxins like uric acid from the body, thereby purifying the blood and keeping away toxin-related problems such as boils, itches, rashes, gout, arthritis, rheumatism, renal calculi, skin diseases like eczema, and hardening of the skin. It is also an alkaline vegetable and can help balance the body’s pH levels.
🔸Skin Care
Broccoli aids in skincare and gives you a glowing, healthy, and radiant appearance. The antioxidants like beta-carotene, vitamin A, vitamin B complex, vitamin C, vitamin E, vitamin K, amino acids, and folate, present in it, do this magic.