If staving off cancer is your goal, you should eat broccoli raw rather than cooked, according to a new study from the Netherlands. Broccoli contains a supposed anticarcinogen called sulforaphane, and the study revealed that raw broccoli delivers ten times more sulforaphane than cooked and also delivers it more quickly.
In a randomized study, eight men ate 200 g of crushed broccoli, either raw or cooked, as part of a meal. After the meal the men’s blood and urine was analyzed on an hourly basis. The tests showed higher amounts of sulforaphane from raw broccoli (bioavailability of 37 percent) as opposed to cooked (3.4 percent). Further, absorption of sulforaphane from cooked took six hours as opposed to about one-and-one-half hours for raw.
The study concluded that eating raw broccoli results in faster absorption of sulforaphane, higher bioavailability, and higher peak amounts in the blood.
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