1. Broccoli Is High in Calcium
If drinking milk isn't your thing, eating broccoli can help you get the calcium needed to keep your bones healthy and strong without adding excess fat or calories to your diet. One cup of cooked broccoli contains 74 mg of calcium, 123 mg of vitamin C and just 44 calories. Vitamin C is important because it helps the body absorb calcium better. Just to put things in perspective, a glass of 2 percent milk has 300 mg of calcium but has no vitamin C and 121 calories, with 42 of those calories coming from fat.
2. Fight Off Cancer With Broccoli
Broccoli is a cruciferous vegetable; that simply means it's an edible plant. Studies show that eating cruciferous vegetables can help reduce the risk of many cancers, such as bladder and ovarian cancers. One study showed that men who ate a serving of broccoli or cauliflower a week halved their chance of getting advanced stage prostate cancer. Also, broccoli contains the phytonutrients sulforaphane and the indoles that boost the body's ability to rid itself of cancerous cells and for those tumors that do form, they tend to take longer to develop and are smaller in mass.
3. Detoxing Made Yummy
Many phytonutrients work as antioxidants to dislodge compounds before they can damage the DNA. However, new research shows that the phytonutrients found in broccoli operate at a much deeper level. They actually signal your genes to increase production of enzymes that help the body detoxify, which is the cleansing process the body uses to rid itself of harmful compounds.
4. Repairs Sun-Damaged Skin
A recent Johns Hopkins research study showed that sulforaphane can help repair sun-damaged skin. Sulforaphane is a compound found in broccoli. When broccoli extracts were applied to test animals that had been exposed to UV light equivalent to a sunbather's exposure on a clear summer day, the extract counteracted the animal body's carcinogenic response to UV light.
5. Full of Fiber and Fat Free
One serving of broccoli has 9 grams of fiber; that's about 33 percent of the recommended amount of fiber needed daily. A diet high in fiber helps prevent constipation, aids in weight loss and helps prevent certain digestive disorders such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and hemorrhoids. Also, broccoli manages to be high fiber with few calories and 0 grams of fat.
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