The compound, called glucobrassicin, was found in the Woad plant, which is a member of the family of plants that contains broccoli, cauliflower, collards, kale, turnips and radish. Researchers from the University of Bologna in Italy found that the plant contains twenty times the glucobrassicin found in broccoli.
Lead researcher Stafania Galletti says the cancer-fighting properties of Woad can be enhanced to 65 times that of broccoli with various treatments. For example, the researchers found that when the leaves of the plant were damaged by insects, the plant released up to 30 percent more glucobrassicin as a defense mechanism.
The researchers found that glucobrassicin acts as an anticancer compound by flushing out cancer-causing chemicals from the body, including excess estrogen and its derivatives, which have been linked to an increased risk of breast cancer. Glucobrassicin has proved especially effective against breast cancer for its estrogen-flushing properties.
Galletti's team now hopes to discover how exactly glucobrassicin acts in the body, which has been difficult to learn since researchers had not been able to extract enough of the compound from broccoli in previous attempts.
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