Processing increases lycopene levels further. You take the common experience of people who deal with marijuana or opium. The Agriculture Department hopes the broccoli research will lead to new hybrids richer in glucoraphanin. For right now, the bottom line is to eat your broccoli, but don't single it out as the only vegetable you eat. The National Cancer Institute recommends eating at least five servings of fruits and vegetables daily.
Studies suggest that people who eat broccoli have a lower incidence of colon and rectal cancer.
Sulforaphane, a product of the glucoraphanin in broccoli, induces the production of certain enzymes that can deactivate free radicals and carcinogens. The enzymes have been shown to inhibit the growth of tumors in laboratory animals. The Agriculture Department research, published recently in the Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science, identified high-glucoraphanin strains of broccoli that could be used in producing new hybrids. But scientists face several challenges, just as they do in developing better cancer fighters among other vegetables. For one, it is not known how much of the various phytochemicals people need or whether too much could be harmful.