Plants Cause Cancer Cells to Commit Suicide

Can plants help fight off cancer cells? Here’s what the research says.

DATA: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5842175/

Timestamps

0:00 Plants cause cancer cells to commit suicide

0:10 What is sulforaphane?

0:31 Apoptosis and phytonutrients explained

2:33 Who shouldn’t have cruciferous vegetables

2:43 Key takeaways

2:53 How to bulletproof your immune system

In this video, we’re going to talk about plants and cancer cells. Some plants have the ability to cause cancer cells to commit suicide.

The nutrient sulforaphane is found in many cruciferous vegetables, including: • Broccoli sprouts • Broccoli • Cauliflower • Kale • Brussels sprouts • Cabbage • Bok Choy

The question is this: if phytonutrients like sulforaphane kill off cancer cells, do they also kill off healthy cells? Here’s a section from a study on this topic: “Sulforaphane selectively inhibited HDAC (this enzyme reduces DNA stability) activity and induced p21 expression (meaning, the death of cancerous cells) in benign hyperplasia (tumors) and cancer cells, while it only caused a transient decrease in HDAC activity and did not affect p21 expression in normal cells.”

Essentially, this means that these phytonutrients only target cancer cells—not healthy cells. Phytonutrients like sulforaphane are safe for most people unless you have preexisting gut damage. If you have gut issues, cruciferous vegetables may cause more inflammation. In summary, research suggests that consuming plenty of vegetables may help reduce the risk of cancer cell growth.