More and more we are finding that the health of our digestive tract – what some people refer to as “gut health” – is critical to maintaining and improving our health. Terry Wahls, a physician diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS), has been able to reverse the effects of MS using a specialized diet (more on this in a future post). Research suggests that gut health may be tied to a number of diseases like diabetes, obesity, depression, and colon cancer.
Brassicas
A new study published in the journal Immunity emphasizes the importance to gut health of eating plenty of vegetables such as cabbage, collards, broccoli, and kale.
These vegetables, sometimes called brassicas, seem to protect against colon cancer. Researchers found that keeping mice on a diet rich in a compound known as indole-3-carbinol (I3C) — which comes from such vegetables — prevented the animals’ intestines from becoming inflamed and developing colon cancer. Our digestive systems produces I3C when we eat vegetables from a “large and diverse group” of plants known as brassicas. Brassicas include, but are not limited to:
- Broccoli
- Cabbage
- Collards
- Brussels sprouts
- Cauliflower
- Kale,
- Kohlrabi,
- Swede,
- Turnip,
- Bok Choi
- Mizuna.
Colon Cancer
Colon cancer typically starts as a growth, or polyp, in the lining of the colon or large intestine. It can take many years for the cancer to develop from a polyp and not all polyps become cancerous. Cancer of the colon or rectum is the third most commonly diagnosed in both women and men in the United States, not counting skin cancer. The American Cancer Society (ACS) estimate that there will be 97,220 new cases of diagnosed colon cancer in the U.S. in 2018.
How Do Brassicas Prevent Colon Cancer?
Even though everybody says that a diet rich in vegetables is good for your gut health much of the science is unknown. The findings in this study provide the first concrete evidence of how vegetables improve gut health. It seems that dietary I3C has an effect on a cell protein known as aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) that reduces gut inflammation and, in turn, prevents cancer. AhR has several roles:
- One of AhR’s jobs in the gut is to pick up environmental signals and pass them on to immune cells and other cells in the lining. These signals are important for protecting the digestive tract from inflammation.
- Another important role that AhR plays is helping stem cells convert into specialized gut lining cells that produce protective mucus and help extract nutrients from food.
When AhR is absent or does not work properly, cells in the gut lining do not develop properly. They divide uncontrollably and uncontrolled cell division may lead to abnormal growths that can become malignant, or cancerous.
The researchers noticed that mice who were fed food with less plant matter, and less rich in I3C, there was significantly more colon cancer. These revealed that the ability of intestines cells to replenish themselves and repair the gut lining after infection or chemical damage was profoundly influenced by AhR and I3C.
The team also found that when the mice were fed a diet enriched with I3C, they did not develop inflammation or cancer. Additionally, when mice that were already developing colon cancer were switched to a diet rich in I3C, they found that those animals developed significantly fewer tumors and that those tumors were less likely to be malignant.
While the scientists are now expected to continue the work on I3C and AhR with human gut tissue and eventually work live humans, there is nothing to stop us from increasing the amount of I3C rich food we eat. While many of us aren’t thrilled with the idea of eating more kale (myself included), I’ve found that making a smoothie with kale, apples and almond milk is an easy way to get more I3C in my diet. Click here for some tasty kale smoothie recipes. Give them a try. I think you will like it!
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