If you prefer to eat just the flowery tops of broccoli, known as the florets, you will still get plenty of good nutrition. Broccoli, a cruciferous vegetable in the same family as cauliflower, cabbage and radishes, offers a number of vitamins and minerals. The florets are a clue to broccoli’s freshness – choose broccoli with tight, closed buds.
Macronutrients and Calories
One cup of raw broccoli florets contains 20 calories, making it a low-calorie addition to any diet. This serving provides 4 g of carbohydrates and 2 g of protein. Broccoli florets have only trace amounts of fat.
Vitamins
Per cup, broccoli florets offer 43 percent of the daily value for vitamin A, based on a 2,000-calorie diet. Vitamin A helps keep your eyesight healthy. You also get more than a day’s worth of vitamin C in 1 cup of the flowers. Broccoli florets contain small amounts of most of the B-vitamins, except for vitamin B-12. The florets provide 50.4 mcg of folate – about 13 percent of the daily value. Folate is especially important to pregnant women, as it helps prevent certain birth defects.
Minerals
Broccoli florets have 34 mg of calcium and .6 mg of iron per cup – or just 3 percent of the daily value for these minerals. A cup of broccoli florets also provides 18 mg of magnesium and 47 mg of phosphorus. With 231 mg of potassium, broccoli florets are considered a high-potassium food.
Cancer Signficance
Broccoli -- the florets and the stem -- contains phytochemicals that may help reduce the risk of certain cancers. Isothiocyanates present in broccoli may be anti-cancer in nature as they act as antioxidants, scrubbing disease-causing free radicals from the body. These compounds may also help control estrogen levels, impacting breast cancer risk, or could boost your body’s natural detoxifying enzymes. The American Cancer Society notes that researchers are unclear as to the exact nature of broccoli’s anti-cancer properties, but that including it as part of your diet is one way to help reduce your risk of disease.
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