Introduction: Vegetables are an indispensable part of our daily diet, but did you know that in addition to providing us with nutrition, many common daily vegetables can also fight cancer? Let's see which vegetables have anti-cancer properties?
1. Garlic
Garlic is pungent and warm in nature with a strong, pungent odor. It contains volatile oil, the main component of which is allicin, a phytoalexin. It contains sulfur, selenium, and germanium. Selenium has the effect of inhibiting cancer, and germanium can prevent stomach cancer. Organic germanium can promote blood circulation, induce interferon in the body, transform macrophages into anti-cancer macrophages, and enhance the resistance of patients' diseased cells.
Allicin can inhibit the growth of bacteria that produce nitrosamines in the human stomach, thereby reducing the synthesis of nitrosamines and the incidence of stomach cancer. Therefore, garlic is used as a common food for cancer prevention and treatment.
Braised Pork Intestines with Garlic
2. Mushrooms
As is well known, there are many types of mushrooms, a common and delicious ingredient in our lives, but did you know that some mushrooms also have anti-cancer properties? Scientific research has found that in the early stages of cancer, eating shiitake mushrooms consistently can inhibit cancer development and even make it disappear. This is because shiitake mushrooms not only contain polysaccharides but also an interferon inducer—double-stranded ribonucleic acid—which can enter cancer cells and inhibit their proliferation.
Mushrooms include shiitake, winter mushroom, oyster mushroom, and lion's mane mushroom, and their main components are polysaccharides. Scientific experiments have proven that these polysaccharides can regulate the body's anti-cancer immune system, thereby inhibiting cancer growth and alleviating symptoms in cancer patients. After various cancer surgeries, continued consumption of shiitake mushrooms can also prevent the metastasis of cancer cells. Additionally, shiitake mushrooms contain a substance called "β-glucosidase," which can enhance the body's anti-cancer effects. An experiment in Japan showed that the anti-cancer rate of shiitake mushroom polysaccharides is as high as 80%-95%, and it has significant therapeutic effects on various malignant tumors such as leukemia, esophageal cancer, stomach cancer, intestinal cancer, lung cancer, and liver cancer.
Skillet-Roasted Mushrooms
3. Eggplant
Eggplant is one of the main vegetables in summer and autumn, with diverse cooking methods. Eating eggplant stew in winter is aromatic, appetizing, and anti-cancer. Purple eggplant is very beneficial for patients with high blood pressure, hemoptysis, and skin purpura. The ancient famous physician Zhu Danxi believed that eggplant belongs to the earth element, is sweet and has a descending effect, and patients with intestinal diseases can eat more eggplant to strengthen the spleen and benefit the stomach.
Eggplant is sweet and cool in nature, with the effects of promoting blood circulation to relieve pain, promoting urination, and detoxification. Its main component is solanine, with the highest content in purple eggplant. Animal experiments have shown that this substance can inhibit digestive system cancers. Modern medical analysis points out three anti-cancer effects of eggplant: promoting blood circulation to relieve pain, reducing swelling, and relaxing the bowels. Promoting blood circulation to relieve pain means invigorating blood circulation. Cancer patients or those in recovery with blood stasis can often eat eggplant. A tumor is a type of swelling, so eating eggplant can be seen as a targeted remedy; it is especially beneficial when there is inflammation around the tumor. Relaxing the bowels refers to the traditional Chinese medicine symptom of "intestinal wind bleeding," which manifests as bloody stools, abdominal pain, tenesmus, and increased frequency. Eating more eggplant can alleviate the condition.
Eggplant with Minced Meat
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4. Chinese Cabbage
Chinese cabbage is sweet and neutral in nature, with the effects of clearing heat, relieving vexation, and promoting bowel movements. Scientists believe that the crude fiber it contains stimulates gastrointestinal peristalsis for bowel movements, which can help expel carcinogens from pollution or decomposition as quickly as possible, thereby reducing intestinal absorption and local stimulation to the intestinal wall.
In addition, Chinese cabbage contains a relatively high amount of the trace element molybdenum, which can block the synthesis of carcinogenic nitrosamines. It contains selenium, which helps the human body produce glutathione, reducing the incidence of cancer. It is rich in vitamins and C. When eaten with meat, it can not only enhance the deliciousness of the meat but also reduce the production of carcinogenic nitrosamines in the meat, achieving the best of both worlds.
Hot and Sour Chinese Cabbage
5. Asparagus
Asparagus is hailed abroad as the ideal health food and is listed as one of the top ten famous dishes in the world. Asparagus contains asparagine, aspartic acid, various sterols, and other substances, which have certain therapeutic effects on high blood pressure, heart disease, tachycardia, fatigue, edema, cystitis, and difficulty urinating.
Asparagus contains many anti-cancer nutrients. First, it is rich in a tissue protein that can effectively inhibit the growth of cancer cells. Second, the large amounts of folic acid, nucleic acids, selenium, and asparaginase in asparagus can well inhibit cancer cell growth and prevent their spread. Third, and most importantly, asparagus extract can cause double-strand breaks in cancer cell DNA, which gives asparagus anti-cancer properties that scientists most desire: it can directly kill cancer cells without side effects on normal cells.
Stir-Fried Asparagus with Shrimp
6. Cabbage
Cabbage is sweet and neutral in nature, with the effects of nourishing the bone marrow, benefiting the joints, strengthening the bones and muscles, benefiting the organs, and clearing heat. It is currently known that the indole-3-carbaldehyde and flavonoid compounds it contains can induce a 54-fold increase in the activity of aryl hydroxylase in the liver and a 30-fold increase in the activity of this enzyme in the small intestinal mucosa, indicating a significant enhancement of anti-cancer ability; research has found that eating cabbage can reduce the risk of stomach, colon, and rectal cancer.
Cabbage contains a compound (glucosinolates and kaempferol) that can control cancer. Researchers believe that these two compounds can fight cancer, protect the heart, lower blood pressure, strengthen bones, and reduce inflammation in the body.
Marinated Purple Cabbage
7. Radish
Radish is an extremely common household vegetable. In northern China, radish, like cabbage and potatoes, is a winter-stored vegetable that people eat for months. Because it is a "common item," people often overlook it; well-off families rarely eat radish a few times a year; and some "gourmets" simply do not eat this "lowly" thing. As for banquets, it is even rarer to see such an unsophisticated dish.
To be fair, people underestimate radish because they "do not recognize its true face." Little do they know that radish has high nutritional value and extensive medical and tonic value, making it a truly versatile, beautiful, and inexpensive food. The world-famous Ming Dynasty pharmacologist Li Shizhen pointed out: "Radish can be eaten raw or cooked, pickled or sauced, fermented or vinegarated, candied or cured, or even as a staple food; it is the most beneficial among vegetables. But the ancients did not study it in detail, could it be because they neglected it for its cheapness?"
Radish contains not only carbohydrates (glucose, pentose), protein (various amino acids), and fat, but also abundant vitamins (such as A, B1, C, E, K, etc.), various minerals (calcium, phosphorus, iron, etc.), as well as various enzymes (such as amylase and oxidase), and mustard oil, volatile oil, and other components. The amount of vitamin C in radish is more than 10 times higher than that in apples and pears. In addition to general nutritional and tonic effects, the components mentioned above in radish also have the effects of strengthening the stomach to aid digestion, relieving coughs and resolving phlegm, regulating qi, and clearing heat and detoxifying. Mustard oil and volatile oil can promote gastrointestinal peristalsis, thereby aiding digestion; enzymes directly participate in the digestive process of food. When people have eaten too much greasy food, drinking a bowl of radish soup or eating a piece of raw radish can quickly aid digestion.
Braised Radish
8. Carrot
Carrot is a nutritious food in daily life. In recent years, it has been reported both domestically and internationally that carrots have outstanding anti-cancer effects.
Research has found that people lacking vitamin A have a cancer incidence rate more than twice that of normal people. Eating a certain amount of carrots daily is very beneficial for preventing cancer. Because the carotene rich in carrots can be converted into a large amount of vitamin A, it can effectively prevent the occurrence of lung cancer and even stop the progression of or reverse already transformed cancer cells.
Research has also found that carrots contain relatively high amounts of folic acid, which also has anti-cancer effects. The lignin it contains can increase the body's immune ability by 2-3 times, thereby indirectly inhibiting or eliminating carcinogens and cancer cells in the body. In addition, the molybdenum in carrots can also prevent and fight cancer. Therefore, eating carrots often can prevent cancer.
Braised Pork Belly with Carrots
9. Lentils
Lentils have been shown in vitro experiments to inhibit tumor growth. The phytohemagglutinin (PHA) contained in lentils can cause malignant tumor cells to agglutinate, change their surface structure, and promote the transformation of lymphocytes, thereby enhancing the body's immunity to tumors.
At the same time, lentils have the effects of strengthening the spleen to remove dampness, eliminating summer heat, and detoxifying. Lentils can stimulate the transformation of lymphocytes in the body into tumor-killing cells and can stimulate the immune system to improve digestion and absorption functions.
Stir-Fried Lentils with Duck Hearts
10. Kidney Beans
Kidney beans, also known as lima beans, have the effects of warming the middle jiao to lower qi, benefiting the kidneys, and supplementing yang. Sword beans contain various globulins such as PHA. According to research, PHA has anti-tumor effects and has attracted worldwide attention.
Other effects of kidney beans:
Improving human immunity: Kidney beans contain unique ingredients such as saponins, urease, and various globulins, which can improve the body's immune ability, enhance disease resistance, activate lymphocytes, and promote the synthesis of deoxyribonucleic acid.
Relieving chronic diseases: Urease has a very good effect on patients with hepatic coma. Kidney beans are a rare food that is high in potassium and magnesium and low in sodium, making them especially suitable for patients with heart disease, arteriosclerosis, high blood lipids, hypokalemia, and those on a salt-restricted diet.
Hair care: Eating kidney beans is very beneficial for the skin and hair. It can promote the metabolism of the skin, induce the body to detoxify, and keep the skin youthful.
Promoting metabolism: The saponins in kidney beans can reduce fat absorption and promote fat metabolism. The dietary fiber it contains can also shorten the time food passes through the intestines, helping weight loss achieve a lighter body.
Honeyed Kidney Beans