Broccoli Health Benefits: Why This Cruciferous Vegetable Deserves a Second Chance

Broccoli has many health benefits that make it really good for you and your family—so even if you disliked it as a child, you may want to reacquaint yourself with this princely vegetable.

Why Broccoli Is Good for You

Broccoli is SO nutritious you just need to embrace it!

• By conventional standards, broccoli stands out: low in calories, high in fiber, vitamins C, K, and folate, plus significant amounts of other vitamins and minerals.

• Broccoli contains many beneficial phytochemical classes: carotenoids, flavonoids, and sulfur-containing glucosinolates—cancer-fighting compounds unique to cruciferous vegetables that give them their pungency and flavor.

Studies show great differences among broccoli varieties in healthful phytocompound amounts.

• Slicing, chopping, chewing, or cooking broccoli (especially sprouted seeds) activates an enzyme that breaks glucosinolates into isothiocyanates, which many studies indicate have potent anti-cancer properties.

• The bactericidal properties of sulforaphane (an isothiocyanate) inhibit Helicobacter pylori, a bacterium causing gastric and peptic ulcers, and possibly gastric cancer.

• Sulforaphane from broccoli sprouts has shown promise in lessening behavioral, social, and language symptoms of autism.

How to Cook Broccoli

Maybe your mother made you eat broccoli and you didn't like it. But broccoli can be prepared many ways. Bear in mind it's easy to ruin by overcooking or smothering in heavy sauce.

Cook lightly to retain nutrients and maximum flavor. Try new recipes and you'll likely hear, "Encore! Encore!"

Caution: Broccoli and its close family—kale, Brussels sprouts, mustard greens, cauliflower—can rarely interfere with thyroid function in some individuals. But cooking alters isothiocyanates' molecular structure, allowing most people to enjoy cruciferous vegetables and their health-promoting values. Consult your healthcare practitioner if concerned.

Growing Broccoli

Home gardeners find broccoli easy to grow. See The Old Farmer's Almanac's broccoli growing guide.

Bonus: After cutting the main head, the right variety keeps producing "side shoots" (individual florets) until heavy frost shuts the garden down.

No garden? Easily grow broccoli "microgreens" for salads and garnishes—they contain more healthful phytocompounds than mature leaves and heads.

~ By Margaret Boyles

About This Blog

Margaret Boyles lives in a wood-heated house in central New Hampshire. She grows vegetables, keeps chickens, swims in a backyard pond in summer, snowshoes in the surrounding woods in winter, and commutes by bike whenever possible.