“Broccoli may undo diabetes damage”
Posted by Ralf Goergens on August 9th, 2008 (All posts by Ralf Goergens)
First the good news:
Eating broccoli could reverse the damage caused by diabetes to heart blood vessels, research suggests.
A University of Warwick team believe the key is a compound found in the vegetable, called sulforaphane.
…
Lead researcher Professor Paul Thornalley said: “Our study suggests that compounds such as sulforaphane from broccoli may help counter processes linked to the development of vascular disease in diabetes…”
Now the bad news: It’s broccoli.
August 9th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
Well, you can’t have your cake and eat it too
August 9th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
I’m not naming names but some people like broccoli.
August 9th, 2008 at 4:20 pm
You know, if I didn’t like cake so much, I wouldn’t need broccoli in the first place.
I know. My mother told me all about them when she fed me the stuff. I am pretty sure they could hold a convention in a phone booth, with room to spare, though. :)
August 9th, 2008 at 5:31 pm
f I didn’t like cake so much, I wouldn’t need broccoli in the first place.
Now you see that Mother is always right!
August 9th, 2008 at 6:09 pm
At least it wasn’t brussels sprout
August 10th, 2008 at 7:54 am
I like broccoli.
August 10th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
Dr Iain Frame, director of research at the charity Diabetes UK, stressed that research carried out on cells in the lab was a long way from the real life situation.
These things rarely pan out. Testing isolated reactions in a lab usually tells us very little about the real world consequences of eating the source of the active compound. Getting significant improvements in a real human body usually would require eating impractical amounts of the food.
Most plants foods are also full of natural toxins whose negative effects can can offset the benefits if you eat enough of them. Plants don’t want to be eaten and try to protect themselves with poisons. We have bred domestics plants to lower the toxins to acceptable levels but they are still present.
This is not to say that you should not eat your vegetables but rather to warn against concentrated them in the hope of getting the beneficial chemicals.
August 10th, 2008 at 2:08 pm
I love broccoli.
August 10th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
Alright, that’s enough broccoli lovers in this thread to fill a phone booth. Future applicants will have to be turned away.
Thank you, Shannon. Exactly what I wanted to hear :)
August 10th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
…on the other hand, even practically minuscule amounts of strudel might result in coma in diabetics…
August 10th, 2008 at 3:07 pm
Thankfully, I am not diabetic ;)
August 11th, 2008 at 9:51 am
I’ll squeeze into the phone booth with the other broccoli fans. Good stuff, that broccoli.
Brussel sprouts, on the other hand, should be confined to Brussels or, better yet, one well guarded garbage dump in Brussels.
These “brassica vegetables” – some of which you’re bound to love and others to hate – are interesting. Google ‘em.
Alas, the strudel days are all but over… aging sucks (yes, I know, it beats heck out of the alternative). Nowadays I am limited to glancing at them longingly.
August 11th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
Good stuff, that broccoli.
As an acquired taste, or right from ther start?
Brussels sprouts should go straight to the compost heap.
I had googled different vegetables for an as yet not written post, concerning alkaloids, natural toxins and so on. This stuff is worse than GM food can ever hope to be
August 11th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
I guess I’m in the minority as a broccoli lover. If you put brussel sprouts in Miso soup, the taste really good :)
August 11th, 2008 at 5:09 pm
The fifth person in the phone booth now. Anybody wanting to make a call’ll have to step outside and use a cell phone.
I am not sure that this makes Miso soup more appealing, but I might just try it.
August 12th, 2008 at 4:18 am
A roasted tenderloin of venison with boletus sauce, german Spaetzle, some glazed marronis, steamed half of an apple filled with cranberries, and brussels sprouts! and of course a glass of Barolo 1998
I love autumn.
August 12th, 2008 at 11:11 am
Marco, I’m drooling….