Green Vegetables Could Help Prevent Cancer

Vegetables are a major part of just about any sound and healthy diet, such as the Mayo Clinic Diet. Vegetables provide healthy vitamins, nutrients and fiber. Researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. LLNL, have fond that in addition to the many reasons to include vegetables in a healthy diet is that they can help to prevent cancer.

LLNL Researchers Graham Bench and Ken Tuteltaub found the the chlorophyll in leafy green vegetables can neutralize certain cancer causing toxins in the human system. In experiments on human being, the researcher found that a small dose of chlorophyll (Chia) or chlorophyllin (CHL) could reverse effects of aflatoxin poisoning. Afaltoxin in associated with growth of a certain type of mold and can be found in food products containing nuts, peanuts and corn.

This means that commonly used products, such as peanut butter, may contain a toxin that can cause cancer. The chlorophyll found in green leafy vegetables may neutralize the toxin. Green leafy vegetables mentioned by the researchers include kale, spinach and broccoli.

According to the press release, researchers believe that environmental carcinogens contribute to a majority of human cancers. Carcinogens are related to a number of lifestyle factors, including tobacco use or smoking, cooking meats at high temperatures and aflatoxins (fungal food contaminants).

The study by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. LLNL, is unique because researchers were able to test the effects in human subjects, according to researcher Ken Turteltaub, in a press statement,

'What makes this study unique among prevention trials is, that we were able to administer a micro dose of radio-labeled aflatoxin to assess the actions of the carcinogen directly in people. There was no extrapolation from animal models which often are wrong'

The LLNL research, which is co-funded by the National Institutes of Health's National Resource for Biomedical Accelerator Mass Spectrometry, appeared in the December issue of the journal, Cancer Prevention Research.

The Mayo Clinic Diet Pyramid recommends an unlimited amount of fruits and vegetables, with a minimum of four vegetable servings and three fruit servings per day. Including a variety of green leafy vegetables seems a wise move, since the vegetables offer healthy nutrition and may even help to neutralize cancer causing toxins.

Information in this article is not intended as medical advice. If you have a medical condition, or questions about nutrition, please consult a qualified medical practitioner.

Resources:
EurekAlert
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Cancer Prevention Research
Mayo Clinic Diet

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