You’re Hard Pressed to Find One That’s Better

I’m often asked, “Frank, of all the vegetables, which vegetable is the best to eat?” This is akin to a child asking their parents which sibling they love the most – a question virtually impossible to answer.

As such, I’ve never been able to answer this question with any real definitiveness, but a bevy of studies recently devoted to one vegetable in particular is making me reconsider my stance on there being no such thing as one vegetable that’s above all the others.

I speak of broccoli – the very same broccoli that your mom tried to convince you to eat when you were young by saying they were mini trees (probably the same tactic you’re now using with your kids). This is the third article I’ve written on broccoli in the past four months, one of them highlighting broccoli’s ability to protect the body from aging prematurely (see “Broccolicious”), the other extolling broccoli’s ability to prevent prostate cancer (see “More Broccoli, Please”). Now comes word that eating raw or lightly steamed broccoli can reduce the risk of heart attack.

While the number of people being affected by heart attacks is declining in this country, it still remains a leading cause of death, according to the American Heart Association. It’s so prevalent, in fact, that one of every five deaths is due to a heart attack, and it’s estimated that one third of those who suffer a heart attack but don’t die from it immediately will succumb within the same year. So this study on broccoli and heart attack prevention is a truly “heartening” finding.

Researchers from the University of Connecticut performed a comparative study on two groups of rats, one group fed steamed broccoli extracts, the other group fed a standard rat diet (whatever a “standard rat diet” may be). They found two interesting things at the conclusion of their study. One was that those who were fed the broccoli extract suffered less damage to the heart after the researchers deprived oxygen from both groups of rats. The second significant finding was that the hearts of the rats fed broccoli was just plain better than the rats who were deprived of broccoli.

Now, I’m sure that those of us who don’t like broccoli will look at this study with an inquisitive eye, dubious of the study and whether or not there was something else the rats were fed that can explain the differentiation in heart function. But these researchers are professionals, the study was published in a professional journal (the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry) and we can only assume that they were fed the same diet, the exception being broccoli.

I also grant you that this was a study done on rats and, as I’ve said in the past, the results of a study done on rats don’t always translate to humans. But many past studies done on rats have translated to humans, and I’m inclined to believe this study would translate as well, largely because of the knowledge we have of the heart-protecting, cancer-fighting phytochemical sulforaphane, and the health benefits they give to those of us who love cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, kale, cabbage and radishes.

So while I still can’t say that broccoli is the best vegetable, I can’t think of a better vegetable to eat. How’s that for a definitive answer?