Are You Eating Your Cruciferous Vegetables?

Super Foods of the Vegetable World

Cruciferous veggies are a family of vegetables renowned for their fiber content and their incredible nutrient density. You likely have been eating cruciferous vegetables everyday without ever knowing it as they comprise some beloved staples such as: broccoli, bok choy, cabbage, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, kale and many many more. Unbeknownst to you, however, they may have been doing a lot of heavy lifting when it comes to your overall health and well-being as well as protecting you from some major illnesses.

Cruciferous Veggies Fight Heart Disease

While anecdotal evidence has existed for ages, more recently, scientific studies have emerged showing people who ate 5 servings of cruciferous vegetables a week were markedly less likely to suffer from any form of cardiovascular disease. A particularly interesting note is that there was a direct inverse relationship between eating cruciferous vegetables and risk of heart disease. The more often cruciferous veggies were consumed, the less heart disease occurred.

Cruciferous Veggies Fight Cancer

As if lowered risk of heart disease wasn't already an incredible benefit, cruciferous veggies have also shown to be effective at combating cancer. This 2009 study has shown that cruciferous veggies are able to inhibit the growth of cancer cells as well as directly contribute to apoptosis (death) of cancer cells. If you're worried that you might be at risk of cancer due to family history or any other factors, daily intake of cruciferous veggies could be one of the best things you could do to greatly reduce that risk.

Cruciferous Veggies Reduce Inflammation

It's been speculated that many of the incredible observed benefits of cruciferous veggies come from a combination of their high nutrient density combined with their anti-inflammatory nature. Inflammation is one of the key hallmarks of many major diseases, so by reducing the inflammation you're fighting the disease it's contributing to.

Cruciferous vegetables aren't just delicious and filling, though that they are, but the benefits they provide are impressive and powerful. This is a food group you absolutely want to be including in your daily rotation so you can stay healthy, energetic, and disease-free.