BALTIMORE, Apr 6, 2009 (UPI via COMTEX) -- Three-day-old broccoli sprouts
suppress Helicobacter pylori -- a cause of infections and a major cause of
stomach cancer -- U.S. researchers said.
Jed Fahey of The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore said the
cancer-protective effects of sulforaphane, a phytochemical from broccoli, have
been known for almost two decades, but this is the first study to show an effect
of broccoli in humans on the bacterial infection that leads to stomach cancer.
The researchers enrolled 48 Helicobacter-infected Japanese men and women and
randomly assigned them to eat 70 grams, or 2.5 ounces, of fresh broccoli sprouts
daily for eight weeks or an equivalent amount of alfalfa sprouts.
"Broccoli has recently entered the public awareness as a preventive dietary
agent. This study supports the emerging evidence that broccoli sprouts may be
able to prevent cancer in humans, not just in lab animals," Fahey said in a
statement.
The researchers assessed the severity of H. pylori infection at the beginning of
the study, and again at four and eight weeks, using standard breath, serum and
stool tests.
The study, published in the Cancer Prevention Research, found the H. pylori
levels were significantly lower at eight weeks on all three measures among those
patients who had eaten broccoli sprouts, while they remained the same for
patients who had eaten alfalfa sprouts.
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Copyright 2009 by United Press International