Broccoli has been lauded as a superfood for years, and with good reason. It contains particular phytonutrients called glucosinolates that, when converted into their active form called sulforaphane, proactively fight cancer cells.
However, these phytonutrients need an enzyme called myrosinase to activate them and this enzyme is easily damaged by heat, e.g. during the cooking process. So cooked broccoli has almost no immune-boosting, cancer-fighting properties because all the myrosinase it contained was destroyed.
Mustard seeds are a good source of the activating enzyme myrosinase. Researchers at the University of Reading, UK, have observed that by adding raw powdered brown mustard seeds to cooked broccoli, they were able to replace the heat-damaged enzymes in the broccoli and thereby increase the bioavailability of the activated sulforaphane by four times. That’s a significant increase.
The takeaway? Broccoli and Mustard Seeds make great “superhero partners” in the fight against cancer, with Mustard Seeds acting like the Robin to Broccoli’s Batman.
If you do need to steam or cook your broccoli before you can eat it, remember to add raw, organic mustard seed powder to your seasoning in order to turn your dish into a cancer-fighting, immune-boosting superfood meal.
This study was published in the journal “Molecular Nutrition and Food Research” in September 2018.