Bugs 'unlock broccoli health benefits'

Bacteria in the lower gut enable the vegetable to release the cancer-fighting agent sulphoraphane, scientists believe.

“This discovery raises the possibility that we will be able to enhance the activity of these bacteria in the colon, increasing broccoli’s cancer-preventive power,” said nutrition expert Prof Elizabeth Jeffery, from the University of Illinois, in Urbana, USA. She said many people destroyed the plant enzyme that produces sulphoraphane by overcooking broccoli.

“Now we know the microbiota in our digestive tract can salvage some of this important cancer-preventive agent even if that happens,” said Prof Jeffery.

Her team carried out experiments on rats.

The researchers showed that sulphoraphane becomes available for absorption into the body in the lower intestine, which houses the bacteria that aid digestion and metabolism.

Sulphoraphane, which has anti-inflammatory properties, is said to be a potent anti-cancer agent.

“The amount that you get in three to five servings a week – that’s less than one daily serving of broccoli – is enough to have an anti-cancer effect,” said Prof Jeffery in an early online edition of the journal Food & Function.