Despised vege a cancer fighter

PETER DRURY/Waikato Times

LIFE SAVER: Dr Rex Munday says brussels sprouts can be used to fight bladder cancer.

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A vegetable Kiwis love to hate may be a lifesaver.

Hamilton scientist Rex Munday has found brussels sprouts are great at warding off bladder cancer.

In a two-year experiment set to continue, Dr Munday, a senior scientist at AgResearch at Ruakura, found rats fed with ground broccoli sprouts, which are in the same family as brussels sprouts, were 50 per cent less likely to develop bladder cancer.

Bladder cancer is diagnosed in more than 300,000 people internationally every year and is the fourth most common cancer in men and the eighth most common in women.

The rats showed an increase in cancer fighting tissue enzymes. Vegetables in the same group include cauliflower and watercress.

"This result is consistent with epidemiological studies showing people who have a high dietary intake of plants of the cabbage family are less likely to develop bladder cancer than those who eat only small amounts of these vegetables," Dr Munday, who admitted to being fond of brussels sprouts himself, said. The ground broccoli sprouts were supplied by the Johns Hopkins University in the US, which is also involved in the research, alongside Roswell Park Cancer Institute in the US, Massey University and Crop & Food Research.

Harjit Singh, who owns Vege Heaven in Heaphy Tce, Hamilton, has sold about 250kg of Ohakune and South Island-grown brussels sprouts a week since they came into season a few weeks ago, but expects that to double as their health benefits become better known and autumn weather hits. "Younger people don't like brussels sprouts," he said. "But the oldies love them and, despite New Zealand's problems with obesity, vegetables known to have health benefits sell very well."

The study follows earlier research by the Waikato Medical Research Foundation, which found rats fed with vegetables from the brassica family (cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts and watercress) had increased levels of enzymes that protected against cancer-causing chemicals..