Bladder Cancer Fight, Eat Your Greens

Did you belong to those kids who hated eating fruits and vegetables? All green was tasteless, and all sweets and fried foods were what you loved? Well, you were not alone. As we grow, our taste changes, so does our awareness and consciousness for healthy living. Fruits and vegetable, specially colorful ones, have long shown to contain many healthy and "cancer fighting" ingredients including those who are helpful for fighting bladder cancer.According to the American Cancer Society, bladder cancer has a yearly prevalence of about 63,000, with a mortality rate of 13,000 per year. Bladder cancer is often highly treatable when found early. Symptoms can include painless blood in the urine. Frequency and painful urination may also be present. The exact cause is unknown, but several risk factors have been found.

Broccoli and Bladder Cancer

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Photo by Blausen Medical Communications, Inc., Reshared through Wikipedia Broccoli is one of the healthiest vegetables around. Researchers in Harvard and Ohio State Universities have isolated compounds from the vegetable broccoli that they believe may help prevent or slow the progress of bladder cancer. The healthy components of broccoli revealed themselves as the researchers observed how men who ate two or more half-cup servings of broccoli per week had a 44 percent lower incidence of bladder cancer compared to men who ate less than one serving each week.The powerful phytochemicals isolated from broccoli are called glucosinolates which are transformed to the so called isothiocyanates - the powerful compounds against bladder cancer-  during ingestion and digestionBroccoli isn't the only cruciferous veggie with health benefits, the researchers say. The plant's kin, which include cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and kale, may all contain similar disease-fighting phytochemicals.While the exact mechanism of action or the amount needed to be ingested is yet to be determined, it has been long proven that colorful fruits and vegetables are important sources of vitamins and very beneficial antioxidants and cancer fighting substances.