Eating cauliflower for 2 months can prevent stomach cancer

Eating two branches of young cauliflower every day for two consecutive months can protect you from this deadly disease, a new study has found.

That's because cauliflower is rich in sulforaphane - a substance that helps the body fight off the cancer-causing bacteria in the stomach.

Scientists have long known that sulforaphane is a potential antibiotic that is resistant to Helicobacter pylori - a bacterium that causes stomach ulcers and cancer.

However, this is the first test to show the effect of this compound on humans. In the study, a group of international experts gave half of the volunteers daily consumption of young cauliflower (about 70 grams a day), and the other half consumed alfalfa, which contained no sulforaphane.

The team found that the level of H. pylori indicator decreased by 40% in those who ate cauliflower, but there was no change in the group of alfalfa users.

Juvenile cauliflower seems to be more potential than mature cauliflower because it has higher sulforaphane content, Jed Fahey, from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

World Health Organization classified Helicobacter pylori as a group of cancer-causing agents. It lives in the lining of the stomach. This bacterium affects about half the world's population.