Additional research indicates that Sulforaphane has the ability to protect the colon from polyp formation

Sulforaphane is a major protective phytochemical derived from the cabbage family. Research shows that Sulforaphane facilitates the detoxification and removal of dangerous chemicals. Research also shows that Sulforaphane is an effective inhibitor of some carcinogenic-chemically induced cancers in laboratory animals.

In this study scientists from the Department of Pharmaceutics, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, tested the effects of Sulforaphane on a strain of mouse that is used in colon cancer research. These mice have a defect in a tumor suppressing gene known as APC. This is similar to the defect that runs in families that suffer with hereditary colon cancer and these animals typically develop over 100 tumors in their intestines. The mice were fed two different potencies of Sulforaphane in their chow for 3 weeks. The Sulforaphane had a remarkable protective ability and the higher the potency the greater the protection.

The mice fed the Sulforaphane had significantly fewer polyps and if they did grow they were smaller. There was a higher rate of cell death for the mutated cells and there was less ability for the cells to proliferate. Also, and very importantly, in any existing polyp there was a lower level of chemical messenger activity associated with the cancer process whereas untreated mice had high levels of activity. Sulforaphane supplementation had the ability to suppress the growth of intestinal polyps in mice doomed to develop colon cancer. The study is published in the October 2006 issue of the journal Carcinogenesis.