Broccoli – The Secret to Building a Healthy Body

Broccoli can do wonders in making you healthier. And this news is for you if you do not eat enough vegetables. If a doctor from Great Britain is to be believed, you need to eat only one type of vegetable to keep you healthy.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee, a correspondent on the BBC television program “Doctor in the House” says that the only vegetable that people need to eat is – broccoli. He has recently written in an article of The Daily Mail that it is a life saver.

Broccoli Nutrition Facts and Health Benefits

He says that this green vegetable enhances the bacteria in the gut. This provides support to the immune system and boosts the health of the bowel. It has many functions. When it moves through the small intestine, it helps balance the immune system. Further, the indigestible fiber in broccoli moves to the colon which is the point where the bowel ends, and it is here that the gut bacteria live, and they feed on the fiber making chains of fatty acids.

It is a part of the family of cruciferous vegetables which consists of cauliflower, Brussels, kale, cabbage, turnips, and collard greens. These are all nutrient dense. Broccoli is also known to fight cancer and it has got much praise for it. Consuming cruciferous vegetables is linked with decreasing the incidence of cancer, especially colon cancer and lung cancer.

Researchers claim that sulforaphane, the compound which contains sulfur and present in these cruciferous vegetables prevents the working of the enzyme known as histone deacetylase which is related to the formation and progression of cancer cells.

Vitamin K deficiency is associated with fracture of bone. A cup of chopped broccoli gives you around 92 mcg of vitamin K which is more than the requirement of your body.

When you consume vitamin K in good amounts, it is good for your bone health as there is an improvement in calcium reuptake and the loss of calcium through urine is also controlled.

Broccoli meets your daily need of calcium as there are about 43 mgs of calcium in one cup.