Unlock Health Benefits with Cruciferous Vegetables: 7 Scientific Reasons

Cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, kale, and cabbage are nutritional powerhouses. Packed with vitamins, minerals, and unique compounds like cancer-fighting sulforaphane, these vegetables offer significant health benefits. Learn how they can slash cancer risk, balance hormones, steady blood sugar, support heart and brain health, boost gut health, and fight inflammaging. Make them a staple for a healthier you!

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By Michael DonaldsonOct 10, 20250 comments

1. Cruciferous Vegetables Help Slash Your Cancer Risk

Cruciferous vegetables help protect you against cancer. This is in part due to their spicy flavor that is related to the sulfur-containing compounds in them. These compounds activate detoxification enzymes and help neutralize carcinogens inside of you.

In a review of 17 studies with a total of 97,000 people, it was found that eating cruciferous vegetables resulted in a 20% decreased risk of colon cancer. In a review of fruits and vegetables and the risk of cardiovascular disease and total cancer, it was found that high intakes of cruciferous vegetables led to a 16% decrease in the risk of total cancer.

2. Cruciferous Vegetables Help Balance Your Hormones by Optimizing Estrogen Metabolism

Do your hormones seem to spin out of control like a wind-up top that's about ready to fall over? Well, cruciferous vegetables can help with this.

The diindolymethane that comes from cruciferous vegetables helps shift estrogen metabolism toward the "good" 2-hydroxy pathway and away from the “bad” 16-alpha hydroxyestrone pathway, which contribute to issues like fibroids and even some cancers. In a study of 34 postmenopausal women, it was found that 500 grams a day of broccoli did improve the ratio of 2-hydroxyestrone:16-alpha hydroxyestrone (2:16 ratio). This implies that they would have a lower risk of certain cancers, including breast cancer, and probably other hormone-sensitive cancer as well.

3. Help Keep Blood Sugar Steady

Eating cruciferous vegetables can help level out blood glucose spikes and valleys. A new study called the VESSEL study found that eating 300 grams of cruciferous vegetables a day by middle-aged and older adults without diabetes decreased the glucose spike after lunch and dinner. The difference wasn't huge, but little changes like this do add up. (See study here.) Calories in the cruciferous vegetable soup were matched as closely as possible to the root vegetable soup in this randomized cross-over study. So it wasn't that they were just eating fewer carbs. The cruciferous vegetables actually did help.

4. Cruciferous Vegetables Support Heart Health, Longer Life

Cruciferous vegetables are excellent for your cardiovascular system. A 2022 study in Frontiers in Nutrition looked at a cruciferous vegetable biomarker in a cohort of 10,489 non-smoking adults. The biomarker (urinary thiocyanate levels) was used to detect who ate the most cruciferous vegetables.

When they compared the quarter with the highest urinary thiocyanate levels with the lowest levels, they found a 50% decrease in risk of cardiovascular disease death and a 25% decrease in all-cause mortality for those who ate the most cruciferous vegetables. That's pretty astounding, actually.

5. Boosting Gut Health as Prebiotic Powerhouses

A healthy gut is critical for your own happiness. Cruciferous vegetables help bring better balance to the bacteria in your gut. The fiber and glucosinolates feed the bacteria that are beneficial to you. In one study, it was shown that feeding higher amounts of broccoli led to a decrease in the number of sulfur-reducing bacteria in the gut of the volunteers. The sulfur-reducing bacteria are associated with production of H₂S gas, which is pro-inflammatory and is associated with suffering from IBS and ulcerative colitis.

In another randomized controlled crossover study of 18 volunteers, feeding higher amounts of broccoli led to increased numbers of beneficial bacteria. There were more Bacteroidetes relative to Firmicutes after eating broccoli, about a 37% increase in the relative ratio of these two families of bacteria, compared to a 5% decrease during the control period feeding. (See study here.)

6. Fighting Inflammaging for Youthful Vitality

Inflammaging is a term that combines the normal aging process along with chronic inflammation. The result is that a person ages a lot faster than normal because of the inflammation contributing to ill health. It is the opposite of graceful aging.

The good news is that cruciferous vegetables contain antioxidants to help with all that inflammation. Carotenoids, flavonoids, vitamin K, and other antioxidants help counter inflammation along with the sulforaphane that exists in cruciferous vegetables. (Read more about it here.)

7. Cruciferous Vegetables Sharpen Brain Health and Guard Against Cognitive Decline

Dementia and cognitive decline are more feared than cancer by middle-aged Americans. Many of us have seen our parents go through Alzheimer's and we do not want that same result for ourselves.

Quite a few different studies exploring cellular mechanisms and animal models have shown that sulforaphane from cruciferous vegetables protects the central nervous system health through the Nrf2 pathway. In reading the research, to me it looks like the more you look for ways that it protects you, the more ways you find that sulforaphane does just that.

Of course, no one eats just cruciferous vegetables. It has to be part of a healthy dietary pattern to get the benefits.

In New York State, a study followed 2,148 New Yorkers over the age of 65 without dementia for a period of several years. They were looking to see what parts of a diet would be helpful to prevent Alzheimer's. During the follow-up, they identified the protective diet. It included:

Salad dressing
Dark leafy greens
Nuts
Fruits
Less red meat
Less high-fat dairy products
Cruciferous vegetables

That sounds a lot like the MIND Diet, which we have talked about here and here. For those that most closely adhered to this pattern the risk of Alzheimer's was cut by 38%.

The Convenient Way to Get Cruciferous Vegetables: Try Hallelujah Diet’s Advanced Superfood Powder

It can be hard to prepare cruciferous vegetables and make sure that you get at least five servings a week. We've made it easy for you.

Hallelujah Diet's Advanced Superfood, both the berry formula and the plain formula, have a decent dose of cruciferous vegetables in it. It has over 30 nutrient-dense ingredients, including broccoli, kale leaf, cabbage leaf, Brussels sprouts, and especially broccoli sprouts, which are a great concentrated source of glucosinolates.

Advanced Superfood delivers the cruciferous vegetable benefits that we've talked about—helping balance your hormones, improving gut health, flooding your body with cancer-preventing glucosinolates, and fighting inflammaging and oxidative stress throughout the body. Using this product daily ensures that you are getting a good dose of cruciferous vegetable power to keep the benefits coming your way. And of course it's USDA organic, gluten-free, non-GMO, and 100% vegan—so you don't have to worry about any harmful ingredients in this product. Check it out here and deliciously check off the box for cruciferous vegetables each day.