Love those greens

Remember when George Herbert Walker Bush, the 41st president of the United States, declared he didn’t like broccoli and declined to eat it?

“I do not like broccoli,” said Bush, who served as President from 1989 to 1993. “And I haven’t liked it since I was a little kid and my mother made me eat it. And I'm President of the United States and I'm not going to eat any more broccoli.”

Well, all the broccoli-haters out there need to come up with some different anti-broccoli strategies.

Mom was right all along. Broccoli, Brussels sprouts and other cruciferous vegetables in the Brassica family (such as kale, cabbage and collard greens) are good for you.

Especially broccoli and Brussels sprouts, which have anticancer effects and other health benefits, researchers say.

Researchers at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center-Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute have discovered that a substance in broccoli and Brussels sprouts can block the proliferation of cancer cells.

The substance is indole-3-carbinol (I3C).

In research published June 29 in the journal Cancer Prevention Research, the scientists said they discovered a connection between I3C and a molecule called Cdc25A, essential for cell division and proliferation. The research showed that I3C "causes the destruction of that molecule and thereby blocks the growth of breast cancer cells."

Cdc25A, they said, occurs at abnormally high levels in cancers of the breast, prostate, liver, esophagus, endometrium and colon, and in non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and in other diseases such as Alzheimer’s.

“I3C can have striking effects on cancer cells,” said study leader Xianghong Zou, assistant professor of pathology at The Ohio State University Medical Center. A better understanding of this mechanism, he said, "may lead to the use of this dietary supplement as an effective and safe strategy for treating a variety of cancers and other human diseases associated with the overexpression of Cdc25A."  (See online news story.)

Grocery stores and farmers' markets need to stock more broccoli and Brussels sprouts this week.

So, how do you prepare these greens?  Here are the traditional ways, ala the Betty Crocker cookbook:

Broccoli: For a pound and a half: Remove large leaves and ends of tough stalks. If thick, gash stem several times. Boil 10 to 15 minutes. Serve buttered, with salt and pepper. Vary with oregano and lemon juice, Hollandaise sauce, or grated cheese.

Brussel Sprouts: For a pound and a half: Remove discolored leaves and stem ends. Leave whole. Boil 8 to10 minutes. Serve buttered, with salt and pepper. Vary with garlic salt, basil, dill, caraway, savory or cumin.

The cookbook, Country Cooking…California Style, published by the California Farm Bureau Women, includes several recipes for broccoli and one for Brussels sprouts. After all, California grows more of these two vegetables than any other state in the country.

Here are two Country Cooking recipes:

Walnut Broccoli
3 heads broccoli, chopped
1/2 cup butter
4 tablespoons flour
1-1/2 teaspoons powdered chicken stock base
2 cups milk
2/3 cup water
6 tablespoons butter
2/3 package seasoned stuffing
2/3 cup walnuts, chopped

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Cook broccoli just under tender. Drain and put in flat 2-quart casserole. Melt 1/2 cup butter, blend in flour and cook gently over low heat. Add chicken stock base. Gradually add milk, cooking until smooth and thick; pour over broccoli. Heat water and 6 tablespoons butter until melted. Pour over stuffing mix and toss; add nuts. Top broccoli with stuffing. Bake 30 minutes at 350 degrees. The amount of water used with stuffing mix may have to be adjusted to make a moist combination. Serves 12.

Coastal Brussels Sprouts Piquant
3 cups Brussels sprouts
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup water
2 teaspoons horseradish
2 tablespoons grated onion
1/2 cup bread crumbs

Preheat over to 375 degrees. Cook sprouts in rapidly boiling water until barely tender. Drain and transfer to shallow casserole. Combine mayonnaise, water, horseradish and onion. Pour over sprouts. Top with bread crumbs. Bake 20 minutes. Serves four.

Broccoli and Brussels sprouts

Broccoli and Brussels sprouts contain substances that can block the growth of cancer cells, according to newly published research in the journal Cancer Prevention Research. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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