Broccoli

With Father's Day approaching in the UK, and with prostate cancer now overtaking lung cancer as the most common cancer in men, affecting almost 35,000 every year in the UK, the Brassica Growers’ Association (BGA) is launching a consumer media PR campaign to highlight the benefits of eating broccoli.

'What better gift is there than the gift of health?' asked BGA, which is planning the campaign for 20-21 June, the Father's Day weekend.

'There is mounting evidence to suggest that including broccoli in the diet can reduce the risk of prostate cancer in men,' the Association stated in a press release. 'June heralds the start of the British broccoli season and Everyman male cancer awareness month, and coincides with the release of encouraging information from the Institute of Food Research on their ongoing work looking at the nutritional properties of broccoli.'

Professor Richard Mithen of the Institute of Food Research commented: “In our research we have been trying to find out how vegetables such as broccoli can reduce the risk of prostate cancer. We have discovered that in men who eat between three or four portions of broccoli (80g) per week there are changes in the expression of particular genes in their prostate gland that are consistent with a reduced risk of cancer, and we think that this is due to naturally occurring phytochemicals that are only found in brassica vegetables.”

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