Presidential Candidates Duck the Crucial Broccoli Question

American Institute for Cancer Research
Wednesday, 20 September 2000

America Wants to Know: Will the Cancer-Fighting Benefits of Broccoli Find a Place at the Table?

Editor's Note: We know what you're thinking, but the American Institute for Cancer Research is a wholly independent research organization that receives no substantial support from any agricultural interest or food industry source. We're just telling you to eat your broccoli because it's good for you. Really.

The American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) is calling on the two Presidential candidates to put an end to long months of furious national conjecture by officially announcing their positions on an issue that sharply divides the American electorate -- Broccoli: love it or hate it?

"The people of this nation demand to know," said Dr. Jeffrey R. Prince, AICR Vice President. "The candidates can no longer keep silent on this vital question. They owe it to America to quit hiding behind secondary issues like foreign policy, health care and the domestic economy. It's time to address the subject of broccoli head-on."

Repeated requests to Gore campaign headquarters for a statement on broccoli went mysteriously unanswered. A Bush spokeswoman would offer only the guarded response, "He doesn't hate it."

Unofficially, however, Governor Bush has addressed the thorny broccoli issue. He has told several reporters (and one impassioned young man who attended a Bush fundraiser in Portland dressed as a giant broccoli) that he is moderate on the broccoli question. "I like the tops, not the stalks," he said.

Why All the Fuss?

To Governor Bush, these questions about broccoli must have a familiar ring. In 1992, his father unleashed a storm of controversy by revealing a fervent anti-broccoli bias.

The furor began quietly when reporters learned that, by order of the President himself, broccoli would no longer be served to him in the White House. At a State Dinner in honor of the visiting Polish Prime Minister, then-President Bush was asked about his executive order.

"Just as Poland had a rebellion against totalitarianism," he said, indicating his guest, "I am rebelling against broccoli, and I refuse to give ground. I do not like broccoli, and I haven't liked it since I was a little kid and my mother made me eat it. And I'm President of the United States, and I'm not going to eat any more broccoli."

California's broccoli growers (who, according to the USDA, produce 82 percent of America's annual crop) promptly sent the White House 10 tons of broccoli, an estimated 80,000 servings. Still the President held his ground, saying, "Barbara loves broccoli. She's tried to make me eat it. She eats it all the time herself. So she can go out and meet the caravan."

Historic AICR Research Revealed Broccoli Benefits

Only a week later, Johns Hopkins University researcher Dr. Paul Talalay and his colleagues published results showing broccoli to be a particularly effective and concentrated source of one naturally occurring anti-cancer agent. Continuing work that had begun on a grant from AICR, Talalay's research suggested that a compound in broccoli called sulforaphane was the single most potent inducer of phase II enzymes (which detoxify dietary carcinogens) found in nature.

Thus, researchers believe, diets high in broccoli - and other cruciferous vegetables like cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and cabbage - help to make harmful molecules more safe so they can be ushered from the body. This prevents the kind of cellular damage that is central to the cancer process.

Dr. Talalay remembers those days well. "We simply had no idea what we were walking into," he said. "We just published what our research revealed, exactly as we always do. But suddenly our work began to receive an overwhelming amount of media attention. "Somehow a synopsis of our work appeared in the Congressional Quarterly. It was quite startling to read about what we had been doing in our little lab, right there next to all of these historic proceedings and affairs of state."

The national and international press seized on Talalay's research, and headlines began to appear taking President Bush to task for his remarks about a food with such dramatic, newly revealed anti-cancer potential.

Government statistics now suggest that the public paid attention. According to the Economic Research Service of the USDA, per capita broccoli consumption stagnated in the early 1990's, only to experience a 34% surge following the publication of Talalay's data. Today, Americans consume 2 billion pounds of broccoli a year, which works out to about 8 pounds per person.

The Economic Research Service also cites annual private surveys of consumers in which "broccoli is regularly identified as the vegetable eaten most often for health reasons, including cancer prevention."

When told these facts, Dr. Talalay smiles. "I like to think that my colleagues and I - and of course President Bush - had something to do with all that."

Recent Research Confirms Broccoli Benefits, and Adds a Few More

Although Dr. Talalay's work uncovered broccoli's cancer-fighting activity only 8 years ago, many of the vegetable's other health benefits have long been known. Broccoli's fiber content is among the highest of any vegetable, and one medium stalk provides 200 percent of the daily recommended intake of vitamin C. Broccoli also contains folate, potassium, calcium, iron and other nutrients required by the body.

But Dr. Talalay and his colleagues at Johns Hopkins have kept busy in the years since "Broccoligate," continuing to publish research on broccoli and its constituent compounds.

In that research, the broccoli compound sulforaphane has brought about dramatic reductions in tumor number, reproduction, growth rate and size in animal models. Emboldened by these promising results, Dr. Talalay has established a laboratory at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine devoted exclusively to studying edible plants for their anti-cancer potential.

Research conducted at this lab has confirmed Talalay's preliminary data and suggested new directions for scientific study. Broccoli seeds were found to be very high in antioxidant activity, because they contain high concentrations of a precursor form of sulforaphane that is more stable and long-lived. Once broccoli is chewed or chopped, Talalay says, this stable form reacts with an enzyme to become the very active and effective cancer-fighter sulforaphane.

Additional research performed by Talalay and his colleagues found broccoli sprouts to be particularly potent sources of antioxidant activity. And, he says, the scientific literature on broccoli's many cancer-fighting benefits is growing every day.

"Laboratories across the globe have reported success using sulforaphane in both breast and colon cancer models. What we're seeing is that sulforaphane and its associated forms seem capable of fighting cancer in more than one way, at more than one stage of the disease."

Talalay is now at work showing the effectiveness of broccoli sprouts in human subjects. He is hoping to identify and isolate the kind of measurable biological indicators that could scientifically illustrate the remarkable potential he's witnessing.

Landmark International Report Confirms New Research Direction

The scientific study of a diet-cancer link was not always so widespread and well regarded, Talalay said. "When it first began to occur to us that using dietary means to protect ourselves from cancer was a viable and promising avenue for research, our position was not a popular one.

"The scientific community looked on our efforts with suspicion - if they looked on our efforts at all. Most commonly, we were simply ignored. Some friends of mine would scratch their heads, wondering idly about the 'wrong turn' my attention had taken."

Only three years ago, however, AICR published a report that has helped research like Talalay's to gain wider scientific acceptance. In 1997, Food, Nutrition and the Prevention of Cancer: A Global Perspective reviewed over 4,500 separate studies on the link between diet and cancer, and its conclusions represent an international scientific consensus on the risks and benefits associated with diet and lifestyle. The expert panel who prepared the report recommends a diet high in fruits, vegetables, whole grains and beans, regular physical activity, maintenance of a healthy weight, and the avoidance of tobacco. The panel estimates that following these guidelines could reduce worldwide cancer rates by as a much as 70 percent.

For more information, or to contact American Institute for Cancer Research, see their website at: www.aicr.org