Broccoli-Detox

A new study published in the journal “Cancer Prevention Research” has officially caught our attention.

Researchers found that subjects who each day slurped down a drink made with broccoli sprouts—two to three-day-old broccoli seedlings—were more likely than the placebo group to, ahem, filter out high levels of the harmful chemicals benzene and acrolein. (Benzene is associated with pollution, and both benzene and acrolein can be found in cigarette smoke.)

Keep in mind that broccoli sprouts have a greater concentration of the active ingredient—glucoraphanin, which when chewed or swallowed conjures a compound called sulforaphane that actives pollutant-fighting enzymes—than mature broccoli (the stuff you’re used to seeing at the grocery store) contains. When mature broccoli is cooked, the amount of glucoraphanin goes down even further.

But that doesn’t mean you should chuck your steamed broccoli out the window.

"Any amount of broccoli that you eat is probably a good thing,"

But that doesn’t mean you should chuck your steamed broccoli out the window.

"Any amount of broccoli that you eat is probably a good thing,"