Matters meatless and sweetness Vindication for (some) veggies If you've been a reader of mine for any time at all, you've heard me sing the praises (ad nauseum) of meats, eggs, nuts, and fruits. You've also heard me bad-mouthing breads and grains, sugary fruit juices, and vegetables. And some of you don't like it one bit.... So all right, uncle! I'm tired of hearing from readers about my disdain of vegetables. I can't help it, though! The bulk of them - like mainstream darlings corn and potatoes (actually starches), peas, cooked carrots, and string beans - are just nutrition-less trash that'll make you fat, clog your heart, dim your mind and put you in an early grave... But they aren't ALL bad. On the balance, some are worth eating - in moderation, of course - because evidence shows that one class of cruciferous vegetable (called the brassica family) may actually significantly reduce your risk of certain types of cancers. (There still needs to be more hard research on this.) And most of them happen to be pretty tasty, too. They are the vegetables:
- Broccoli
- Cabbage
- Cauliflower
Brussels sprouts - Kale
Plus the popular seasonings (unrefined, of course): - Horseradish
- Mustard
- Wassabi
Evidence in recent years shows that these brassicas may prevent many kinds of cancers. According to a PubMed summary of 80 studies, the cancers most often mentioned are lung, stomach, colon, and rectal cancers, but other cancers are also thought to be inhibited - like prostate, endometrial, and ovarian. One recent U.S. study highlighted in a Reuters Health article showed that broccoli specifically appeared to interfere with bladder cancer cells, slowing the spread of this notoriously aggressive cancer by a measurable degree. (Now that's real research!) Among the mechanisms behind this class of vegetables' cancer-fighting action appear to be a group of similar natural substances called isothiocyanates. More light will likely be shed on this phenomenon as the world's largest diet/cancer research - a 10,000-study worldwide collaboration overseen by the World Cancer Research Fund - is completed in 2006. My advice: To resist cancer as fully as possible, add some of these brassicas to your diet if you aren't already doing so - but don't overdue it. And stick to the natural vegetables themselves, cooked as little as possible for good taste. I say this because of the direction some "healthy foods" appear to be headed in... **************************************************** Broccoli ice cream? For the record, I don't blame kids for not liking vegetables: I don't like most of them either, but not for the same reasons they don't. Most kids' objections have less to do with nutritional reasons and everything to do with "tasting yucky." But apparently, now kids in the UK will have no excuse for not choking down those Brussels sprouts (ironically, one of the most kid-hated veggies, but one of the healthiest to eat for anyone)... Why? Because they may soon start putting them in ICE CREAM! If a new series of recipes a UK celebrity chef's wife has developed and is beginning to promote on TV and the Web takes off, kids in Jolly Old England may indeed be able to skip right to dessert with their parents' blessings. These "Ice Greens" recipes feature flavors like broccoli, carrots, peas, lettuce and yellow pepper. According to a UK Daily Mail article, the "healthy" ingredients are combined with various cheeses and seasonings and served cold to replicate real ice cream. Folks, I don't know about this. I'll keep an open mind, but it sounds like just another kind of sweets to me. I'll believe it's "health food" when I see the recipes for myself. Until I give it the "thumbs-up," though, I'd steer clear... Always cutting the "mustard" while "sprouting" off, William Campbell Douglass II, MD | 
