Originally published in icon Issue 1 2007
We have told interested parties for prostate cancer, in the past, about the benefits of lycopene, most usually found in tomatoes (especially available from cooked tomatoes); and of the benefits of indole 3 carbinol and sulphuranes from broccoli (indole 3 carbinol can convert aggressive oestradiol to safer oestrone, while sulphur compounds have been shown to actually restrict the growth of cancer cells).
Now the University of Illinois has shown that eating both in the same meal has an even greater benefit than just one of the two alone. John Erdman, Professor of Food Science at the university said they were quite different substances and don’t have to be eaten together to provide benefit, but when combined they are very complementary because they work on different anti- cancer pathways.
The tests were performed on rats and those given the broccoli/tomato combination had better results than those on drugs (notably finasteride –an oestrogen inhibitor).
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(Ed: Julie Clark of CRUK, in response to this research, merely noted the benefits of a balanced diet. It is high time more detailed attention, brainpower and funding were provided for these important studies in the UK. It is too easy for our medical ‘experts’ to ignore overseas findings). (The Times: Dr Mercola, Cancer Research Jan 9th 2007).