Sulphoraphane is a compound that was recognized in broccoli spouts by researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore and the French National Scientific Research Center. They discovered it kills the bacterium Helicobacter pylori, the bug widely thought to be responsible for the majority of cases of stomach ulcers and stomach cancer.
6. GRAPEFRUIT
“Bioflavonoids act as potent antioxidants which can bind to toxic metals and escort them out of the body,” says Holford. “They have a synergistic effect on vitamin C, stabilizing it in human tissue. Furthermore, they have an antibiotic effect which accounts for their anti-infection properties and are also anti-carcinogenic.” Bioflavonoids usually appear to be most powerful in fruit, probably because the sugars help the flavonoids to be absorbed. Taxifolin and rutin are two important flavonoids found in citrus fruit, including grapefruit. “Many years ago, bioflavonoids were classed as vitamin P and then more or less dismissed as of no significance,” says Wills. “Now we know better.”
7. ONIONS
“There is a subgroup of flavonoids called flavonols, one of which — the most researched, and probably the most abundant in foods — is quercetin,” says Wills. Found not only in the skins of onions but also in apples, black tea and red wine, Wills says a high quercetin intake has been linked with a lower risk of coronary heart disease and may also help to prevent cataracts. This antioxidant also boosts antihistamine properties that may help to relieve allergic and asthma symptoms.
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