Vision protection. In 2004, the Johns Hopkins researchers updated their findings on sulfora-
phane to suggest that it may also protect cells in the eyes from damage due to ultraviolet
light, thus reducing the risk of macular degeneration, the most common cause of age-related
vision loss.
Lower risk of some birth defects. Up to two or every 1,000 babies born in the United States
each year may have cleft palate or a neural tube (spinal cord) defect due to their mothers’
not having gotten adequate amounts of folate during pregnancy. The current RDA for folate
is 180 mcg for a woman, 200 mcg for a man, but the FDA now recommends 400 mcg for
a woman who is or may become pregnant. Taking a folate supplement before becoming
pregnant and continuing through the first two months of pregnancy reduces the risk of cleft
palate; taking folate through the entire pregnancy reduces the risk of neural tube defects.
Broccoli is a good source of folate. One raw broccoli spear has 107 mcg folate, more than 50
percent of the RDA for an adult.
Possible lower risk of heart attack. In the spring of 1998, an analysis of data from the records
for more than 80,000 women enrolled in the long-running Nurses’ Health Study at Harvard
School of Public Health/Brigham and Women’s Hospital, in Boston, demonstrated that a diet
providing more than 400 mcg folate and 3 mg vitamin B 6 daily, either from food or supple-
ments, might reduce a woman’s risk of heart attack by almost 50 percent. Although men
were not included in the study, the results were assumed to apply to them as well.
However, data from a meta-analysis published in the Journal of the American Medical
Association in December 2006 called this theory into question. Researchers at Tulane Univer-
sity examined the results of 12 controlled studies in which 16,958 patients with preexisting
cardiovascular disease were given either folic acid supplements or placebos (“look-alike” pills
with no folic acid) for at least six months. The scientists, who found no reduction in the risk
of further heart disease or overall death rates among those taking folic acid, concluded that
further studies will be required to ascertain whether taking folic acid supplements reduces
the risk of cardiovascular disease.
Possible inhibition of the herpes virus. Indoles, another group of chemicals in broccoli, may
inhibit the growth of some herpes viruses. In 2003, at the 43rd annual Interscience Confer-
ence on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, in Chicago, researchers from Stockholm’s
Huddinge University Hospital, the University of Virginia, and Northeastern Ohio University
reported that indole-3-carbinol (I3C) in broccoli stops cells, including those of the herpes sim-
plex virus, from reproducing. In tests on monkey and human cells, I3C was nearly 100 percent
effective in blocking reproduction of the HSV-1 (oral and genital herpes) and HSV-2 (genital
herpes), including one strain known to be resistant to the antiviral drug acyclovir (Zovirax).
Adverse Effects Associated with This Food
Enlarged thyroid gland. Cruciferous vegetables, including broccoli, contain goitrin, thio-
cyanate, and isothiocyanate, chemical compounds that inhibit the formation of thyroid
hormones and cause the thyroid to enlarge in an attempt to produce more. These chemicals,
Broccoli