Soy, broccoli anti-cancer link explained
Eating foods like broccoli and soy has been linked to lower cancer rates, and researchers say they may have discovered the biological mechanism behind the protective effect.
A University of California Los Angeles research team told a meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research that diindolymethane (DIM), a compound resulting from digestion of cruciferous vegetables (those from the Brassica family, such as sprouts, broccoli and cabbages), and genistein, an isoflavone in soy, reduce the production of two proteins needed for breast and ovarian cancers to spread.
The researchers will next test the theory in mice.
“We think these compounds might slow or prevent the metastasis of breast and ovarian cancer, which would greatly increase the effectiveness of current treatments,” says UCLA graduate student Erin Hsu.
