Broccoli May Cut Skin Cancer Risk

Oct. 22, 2007— -- "Don't forget to eat your broccoli."

It is likely that few, if any, of us never heard these words of advice from our parents at one time or another.

Less often heard was that extracts from broccoli, when applied to the skin, may provide health benefits as well.

But new research has found that doing just that may help reduce the redness and inflammation caused by sun damage — and subsequently decrease the risk of skin cancer.

The findings were published Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Lead study author Dr. Paul Talalay, in the department of pharmacology and molecular sciences at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, emphasizes that the chemical component from broccoli sprout extract is not a sunscreen. Unlike sunscreen, the extract does not absorb UV light and "does not prevent the radiation from penetrating into the skin," he says.

What it does, he says, is "boost the protective systems of the cell to counteract the damage caused by ultraviolet radiation.

"Treatment with broccoli sprout extract might be another protective measure that alleviates the skin damage caused by UV radiation and, thereby, decreases our long-term risk of developing cancer," Talalay says.

Such a finding could be more relevant as the incidence of skin cancer continues to rise, possibly due to increased exposure to ultraviolet light and the decay of the ozone layer.

Fifteen years ago, Talalay first identified a chemical — sulforaphane — which he isolated from cruciferous vegetables, including broccoli. He found that this protective chemical prevented tumor development in a number of animals, even when they were exposed to cancer-causing agents.

In this current study of mice and six human volunteers, he applied broccoli sprout extract to small areas of the volunteers' skin. Each volunteer then received doses of ultraviolet radiation — either on the same area where the broccoli extract had been applied or on an untreated region of skin.