Broccoli is a vegetable with excellent properties against skin aging and as a prevention of skin tumors. Let’s find out how the active ingredients of broccoli help prevent skin diseases caused by damage due to climate change.
Climate change has harmful effects not only on the planet but also on the human body. The increase in skin cancers is a consequence of this. So let’s see how damage to the skin can be prevented with a vegetable rich in beneficial properties: broccoli.
Broccoli And Sulforaphane
In cruciferous vegetables (the cabbage family), we can find a great ally in the fight against skin cancer: sulforaphane. It is an isothiocyanate with high antioxidant qualities, able to persist for a long time in the human body. The primary source of sulforaphane is broccoli sprouts, followed to a lesser extent by cabbage, Brussels sprouts, bok choy, kale, turnips, cauliflower, mustard greens, radishes, rocket, and watercress.
Recent studies have demonstrated a preventive effect on skin tumors after only three consecutive days of taking broccoli extract. An increasing number of scientific researchers consider broccoli extracts and sprouts, especially oncologists, as one of the best cytoprotective strategies, starting from treating rashes and eczema up to the fight against carcinomas.
How To Eat Broccoli
To take full advantage of broccoli’s active ingredients, it is essential to chew the vegetable well and for a long time to release the protective anticancer substances and other healthy active ingredients from the plant tissue. The cooking must take place in a very light way to not lose the beneficial properties of the broccoli; therefore, it is recommended to cook them in steam for a short time.
The simplest and lightest dressing can be made with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, allowing for better intestinal absorption of the nutritional principles. A pinch of salt helps bring out the flavor as long as you don’t overdo the cooking sodium.A good recipe is to cook the dry pasta in a bit of water and, towards the end of cooking, add the broccoli sprouts, thus giving the vegetable a scalding, and then serve it all on the table with a drizzle of olive oil.
Effects Of Climate Change On The Skin
In recent years, global warming has begun to show its full-blown effects on various aspects of terrestrial life: the oceans are more acidic, permafrost and glaciers are significantly shrinking, subtropical deserts are expanding, the frequency and intensity of destructive phenomena such as hurricanes and tsunamis is on the rise. But changes are not found only on a large scale, in the macrocosm; even the microcosm of the human body undergoes large and small upheavals caused by the greenhouse effect.
Specifically, cases of carcinoma and skin tumors other than melanoma are on the rise; the incidence of ultraviolet radiation has reached a level of intensity such to arouse alarm; such radiations are capable of seriously damaging the genetic make-up (mutagenic), triggering oxidative processes at the lipid level capable of damaging different parts of the cell, of starting inflammations that break down the response of the immune system.
It seems that in recent years has, not only the number of cases of tumors connected to excessive exposure to UV rays increased but also the number of people with a genetic weakness probably due to a mutation induced by UV rays: it seems that ultraviolet can suppress the hereditary transmission of a gene essential to develop a total capacity to repair damaged cells. So, in addition to increasing the number of UV rays, the ability to protect yourself from them would also decrease.
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