Baby Broccoli Sprouts and Marijuana THC Keep Cancer at Bay

Does Your Diet Need a "Go Green" Makeover?

Sylvia Cochran
Baby broccoli sprouts and marijuana are in the news as bona fide cancer fighters. Can you get yourself to eat the former? Will you have to brave the feds to get the latter?

Baby Broccoli Sprouts in the News ... in 1997

Johns Hopkins issued a press release in September of 1997 and educated consumers about a substance known as sulforaphane and its presence in baby broccoli. This discovery piggybacked on the finding dating back to 1992 when it became known that sulforaphane was a premier natural cancer fighter and preventer.

Lest you head out to the supermarket to pick up a few heads, it is noteworthy that such cancer fighting substances are found in baby broccoli sprouts a mere three days old. These tested at 20-50 times the cancer fighting substances levels that their adult plant counterparts evidenced.

The implications are positive for those who are challenged when it comes to having their fridge go green: instead of consuming 1.25 pounds of mature broccoli, a mere ounce of baby broccoli sprouts is said to deliver the same cancer fighting compounds to the body. Not surprisingly, this science is now marketed under the brand name BroccoSprouts by Brassica.

Marijuana and the Brain Cancer Connection

Published on April 1 - but not an April Fools Day joke - WebMD claims that marijuana contains a chemical that causes the death of cells associated with brain cancer. Although marijuana legalization activists were quick to point to the study as further proof that prolonged criminalization of pot was untenable in a day and age when medical science was proving time and again the benefits of marijuana, a more careful perusal of the study shows that nobody has to actually brave the feds to get their hands on the substance.

Published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, the marijuana's THC was actually dissolved into saline and then directly introduced into the brain tumors of two patients. Upon prolonged administration of the THC into the brain tumors, researchers found that the number of live cancer cells dropped.

In Summary ...

Whether baby broccoli sprouts or THC containing marijuana, it is evident that the American diet must go green for the prolonged survival of those who thus far have subsisted on hamburgers, fries, and a coke.

Sources

http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/press/1997/SEPT/970903.HTM; http://www.webmd.com/cancer/brain-cancer/news/20090401/marijuana-chemical-may-fight-brain-cancer; http://www.jci.org/articles/view/37948

Published by Sylvia Cochran - Featured Contributor in Politics

Sylvia Cochran works out of sunny Southern California and has been freelance writing -- full-time -- since 2005. SEO-optimized Internet copy includes news analysis, political Op/Ed and parenting as well as a...   View profile

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