Watercress
The Wonder of Watercress
New research will be announced at the Royal Society of Medicine this year that highlights the important role watercress seems to play in the fight against cancer. Due for publication in the Amercian Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the claim build on previous anti-cancer claims for this bitter-tasting salad vegetable.
When chopped, blended or simply chewed, plant compounds in watercress known as glucosinolates are broken down into phenylethyl isothiocyanate. More than 50 studies have indicated that this metabolite of watercress were shown in laboratory experiments to reduce the level of DNA damage in human colon cells when exposed to the kinds of stresses that trigger cancer.
An Amercian study in the 1990s suggested that smokers who ate 50g of watercress (about two hugh handfuls) with every meal were offered some protection from NKK, a key lung-cancer-causing agent in cigarette smoke.
In addition to its potential role in combating cancer, watercress is rich in vitamin C and betacarotene, both said to be useful as skin anti-agers, plus iron and calcium. If you can’t stand the bitter taste of watercress, tone it down by adding low-fat cream cheese to make sandwich or baked potato fillings, or by adding it to milk-based soups.
Amanda Ursell
