Healthy Toxic Vegetable Boost
Experience has a lot to offer. Thinking back a decade, there was a time where I revelled in new information. Smart people sharing discoveries. A new way of life we once lost. Their interpretation of history, backed by science, caused me to repeat some silly things.
I must confess, the info was coming at me thick and fast. I was really into it. And quoting my finding to anyone interested.
Luckily, conundrums play around in my head. I often grab the tail to see where they'll lead. Which brings me to today, where I shudder at the thought of my original rigid beliefs. I said them with absolute certainty. But didn't check the facts. Admittedly, my journey would have been delayed and I wouldn't have a glum feeling when I tell you some vegetables are toxic when eaten raw...
...Although, these toxins are proving healthful to us!
With that being the case, doesn't it seem weird? A toxic substance not only isn't always toxic, it's actually beneficial to your health. A toxin that has the power to detox our bodies. By stimulating your liver to remove other toxins.
In view of this reality, my basic view of something toxic seems silly. Just because a substance is labelled toxic doesn't mean it will harm you. That being said, nutrients that are safe can become toxic too. I'd say, 'the dose makes the toxin', but that's misleading too. A story for another day. But to be brief, smaller doses can be toxic while a little more may not be, but large amounts are toxic... it's never straightforward, is it?
Anyway, we've emerged with plants. Vegetables may stop the bugs from eating them. But they haven't stopped us. We'll happily cry peeling an onion. The sulphur gas it creates when cut and damaged isn't enough to prevent us from enjoying it. Therefore, with limitations, we don't mind eating vegetables straight from the garden. Noshing them as nature created. Their defences are not enough. The compounds they create mixed with enzymes as the cells are broken to produce a toxic substance actually helps our bodies.
When we eat these natural substances they stress us out. Our bodies adapt. Detox systems are activated. For example, the toxic substance created by a particular family of vegetables increases phase II liver detox enzymes. This helps you to excrete toxic material. Not only this but most notably, it can stimulate unexpected glutathione compounds used to detoxify. Therefore, your liver is protected from various foreign substances through increased detoxification enzymes and glutathione synthesis.[1,2]
After eating these vegetables your body will excrete more toxic substances including carcinogens. Consequently, by devouring these vegetables it is presumed they protect us against cancers because of their ability to clear the carcinogen compounds we eat.
By now, we've all heard cooked meat may contribute to our cancer risk. It's understood that different cooking methods create carcinogenic chemicals. In fact, a study on cooked meat and breast cancer showed evidence that the consumption of grilled or barbecued or smoked meats may increase the risk of postmenopausal breast cancer. But because these vegetables boost the detoxifying enzymes in our livers, these toxins are cleared. And when the scientists crunched the numbers, they found that people eating these vegetables have a reduced risk of cancer compared to those who don't. So that's why the substances in these vegetables are thought to protect us against cancers.
Actually, the detox process continues weeks later after you stop eating them. In the experiment where they measured the levels of toxins excreted after eating carcinogens from meat, the amount eliminated increased after eating certain vegetables. But what was outstanding was the effect weeks later...
...Liver function was still elevated
For two weeks after the participants stopped eating these veggies, their livers continued to remove toxins. Actually, caffeine was rapidly cleared too. So you may need to drink more coffee to get a normal buzz. What's more, your liver might be able to eliminate a hangover as well.
While it's believed the cause of a hangover comes from the toxic acetaldehyde byproduct left behind after your body metabolises alcohol. Now that your liver is functioning differently after eating these special vegetables, you're able to detox around twice the speed and reduce any side-effects, such as a hangover.[3,4,5]
For the fact that some vegetables can stimulate detoxification, it's also been seen that mucosal tissue in your airway is safely and dramatically provoked to produce Phase II enzyme. This means your body's detoxication of airborne pollutants is enhanced and therefore any risk of cancer is reduced. This approach could be important for removing chemicals such as diesel exhaust particles (DEP) and tobacco smoke. Also blocking adverse effects caused by exposure to diesel exhaust particle and other such pollutants.
Speaking about air pollution, in a severely air polluted area of China, broccoli sprouts increased the rate of excretion of benzene, a known carcinogen from burning fuels, by 61%. And increased the excretion of acrolein, another carcinogenic compound from burning things, by 23%.[6,7,8,9]
Indeed, our environment is contaminated. All kinds of toxic substances are attacking us. Damaging our DNA. One collective of substances, pesticides, can damage white blood cells' DNA. But by eating cruciferous vegetables your body becomes protected.[10]
The outstanding effect broccoli and cauliflower and the rest of the cabbage family have on our bodies comes from the isothiocyanates they created when attacked. These toxins act as adaptogens to us. Most notable, sulphoraphane, as it causes your body to increase your ability to liver detox. And because it is an effective defender against cancerous mutations inflicted by cooked food mutagens.[11] Also, your response enhances your detoxication of airborne pollutants.
Given these points, sulphoraphane is under considerable study. They are finding many more effects and refining the needed dose and working out how best to take it. Naturally, supplement manufacturers are producing tablets for us to take. However, the bioavailability of taking pills is far lower than eating the actual plant.
For one thing, two-day-old broccoli sprouts contain the most sulphoraphane. With around 100 times more than broccoli, broccoli sprouts have been made into supplements. Which raised the question... which is best?
Fresh Broccoli Sprouts Vs Broccoli Extract
In a study testing this, the participants were given 40g of fresh broccoli sprouts which would provide around 100mg of sulphoraphane. Then they were prescribed 6 broccoli extract supplements containing 30 mg of sulphoraphane glucosinolate each. In the end, the fresh sprouts delivered up to eight times more sulphoraphane than the supplements. The phytochemicals from the fresh broccoli sprouts are better able to get into us.[12]
With this in mind, the question is how much do we need to eat and how much is actually toxic to us?
The fact is, out of all of the cruciferous vegetables, broccoli sprouts contain the highest amount of sulphoraphane. Whereas, a portion of cruciferous vegetables contains moderately high levels of glucosinolates. A measure of a 28-80g serving of Brussels sprouts, garden cress, mustard greens, turnip, cabbage, kale, or watercress would provide large quantities of total glucosinolates. Now all you'd need is the enzyme myrosinase to convert it to the isothiocyanates such as sulphoraphane.
Although this enzyme is naturally present on the plant, it is destroyed while cooking, therefore, the isothiocyanates cannot be created. Two or three minutes of cooking will not do too much damage but further cooking will. So, it is best to limit the cooking process so these beneficial substances can be created. And chew your food because the more you masticate the vegetable, the more isothiocyanates are created.
Another way to make sure you create isothiocyanates is to blitz your food into smoothies or soups. And consider adding mustard seeds because their type of myrosinase has increased heat resistance.[13,14,15,16]
However you choose to eat your sulphoraphane, broccoli sprouts are most tested with promising health results because they contain the most. And the research shows 40-200g doses were administered. The highest dose was found to produce the maximum phase II enzymes in our airway to help detox our polluted air.
Last but not least, researchers found that 100 cups of broccoli would provide enough toxic substances to cause DNA damage... that would convert to around 4 cups of broccoli sprouts. So it is quite easy to exceed the safe dose of the cruciferous phytonutrient sulforaphane.[17]
There you have strong reasons to eat brassica vegetables. They will help detox your body. Reduce your risk of cancer. And protect your body from so many other diseases we'll discuss another time.