NOT content with helping to prevent cancer, broccoli may also help the immune system to clean harmful bacteria from the lungs. A compound found in the vegetable is now being trialled as a treatment for people with lung disease.
To ensure that the lungs function correctly, white blood cells called macrophages remove debris and bacteria that can build up and cause infection. This cleaning system is defective in smokers and people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Now, researchers have found that a chemical pathway in the lungs called NRF2, involved in macrophage activation, is wiped out by smoking. Sulphoraphane, a plant chemical that is made by broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables, can restore this pathway.
Shyam Biswal at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, and colleagues, exposed defective macrophages from the lungs of 43 people with COPD to two bacterial strains that are common causes of COPD-associated infections.