Anti-Cancer Foods: Cauliflower Uses & Benefits

Portion of Cauliflower on dark wooden background (close-up shot)

Did you notice many health-conscious people increasingly switching to rice alternatives like cauliflower rice? Compared to rice, cauliflower rice is healthier because it contains fewer calories and carbohydrates, more fiber, higher B vitamins, greater vitamin C, enough vitamin K1, and a few minerals.

What Is Cauliflower?

Cauliflower is a vegetable that belongs to the plant family Brassica oleracea. Other common vegetables in this species include cabbage, broccoli, kohlrabi, kale, and Brussels sprouts. It is a seed-reproducing annual plant.

The Italian term cavolfiore, which translates as “cabbage flower,” is where the word “cauliflower” originates.

Cauliflower is typically white, but green, purple, and orange varieties are also available.

What Are The Uses Of Cauliflower?

Cauliflower’s head or curd is frequently used as food. There are countless methods to prepare cauliflower, including roasting, mashing, and adding it to soups and casseroles.

Although cauliflower is also used for medicinal purposes like to treat cancer, diabetes, heart disease, obesity, and other conditions, there isn’t enough reliable scientific proof to back up these uses.

What Are The Health Benefits Of Cauliflower?

Cauliflower contains several nutrients and unique plant compounds that can reduce inflammation, and the risk of several chronic diseases, improve digestion and brain health and help in weight loss.

Cauliflower contains a lot of dietary fiber, which research suggests may help control inflammation and regulate your immune system. However, it might aid in lowering the risk of diseases, including diabetes, obesity, and cardiovascular disease, linked to inflammation.

Another research investigation has linked high fiber intakes to considerably lower risks of hypertension, stroke, coronary heart disease, and several gastrointestinal diseases.

Cauliflower contains choline, a crucial and versatile “vitamin-like component” that supports learning, memory, muscle activity, and sleep.

Cauliflower is an excellent source of fiber, which slows digestion and increases feelings of fullness. This could automatically lower the number of calories consumed during the day, which is crucial for weight management.

What Makes Cauliflower An Anticancer Food?

Antioxidants, which shield your cells from damaging free radicals and inflammation, are abundant in cauliflower.

Cauliflower is notably vital in isothiocyanates and glucosinolates, two antioxidants that may help inhibit the growth of cancer cells, akin to other cruciferous vegetables.

Different research studies available in the National Library of Medicine, which are test tube studies, have demonstrated that glucosinolates and isothiocyanates are particularly protective against lung, prostate, breast, and colon cancer.

According to another study in the journal Advances in experimental medicine and biology, cruciferous vegetables like cauliflower contain an antioxidant called indole-3-carbinol that has been demonstrated to diminish the incidence of breast and reproductive cancers in both women and men.

Additionally, flavonoid and carotenoid antioxidants found in cauliflower have anticancer properties.

Furthermore, cauliflower has a lot of vitamin C, a powerful antioxidant. It is well known for having anti-inflammatory properties that could strengthen the immune system and lower the risk of developing cancer.

References

Health Benefits

  1. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19335713/
  2. https://www.uab.edu/news/health/item/3292-foods-can-help-fight-inflammation
  3. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2782876/
  4. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3257631/

As An Anticancer

  1. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23679237/
  2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2737735/
  3. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15035868/
  4. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15554241/
  5. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23978168/
  6. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3793502/
  7. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12134711/
  8. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7071196/#:~:text=Flavonoids%20have%20been%20shown%20to,cancer%20cell%20proliferation%20and%20invasiveness.
  9. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12569111
  10. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3783921/
  11. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10736624/

Chef Shedric

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