As we all know, vegetables and fruits generally have anti-cancer and anti-cancer effects. But the anti-cancer effect of cruciferous vegetables is particularly clear and prominent. For this reason, the "Chinese Dietary Guidelines 2007" recommends cruciferous vegetables when recommending 300-500g of vegetables a day (another recommendation for vegetables is that half of them should be dark vegetables). Cruciferous vegetables contain phytochemicals-isothiocyanate and indole, which have been proven to have good anti-cancer effects. So, what are included in cruciferous vegetables?

　　In the classification of plants, Cruciferae is a family of Dicotyledoneae, Pentaphyllaceae, and White Cauliflower. There are 378 genera and more than 3,710 species of cruciferous plants, mostly herbs, with spicy leaves. There are 98 genera and more than 420 species of cruciferous plants in China. The main points for identification of cruciferous plants are: herbaceous, hermaphrodite, neat, cruciform corolla, four strong stamens, superior ovary, caryopsis, lateral membrane placenta, with pseudo septum. The cruciferous plants that are eaten as vegetables are mainly: Sprouts cabbage, watercress (watercress), mustard, mustard, snow red, kohlrabi, turnip, etc.

　　 2. Radish, big green radish, red radish, water radish, sweet heart, etc. which belong to the radish genus.

　　 3. Some people''s favorite wild vegetables, such as shepherd''s purse, Zhuge vegetable, broken rice shepherd''s purse, lone vegetable, arugula, etc.

　　 4. Wasabi (seed mustard seeds), horseradish, etc. which are seasonings.

　　 There are also some Chinese medicinal materials that also belong to cruciferous plants, the most common ones are Radix isatidis and Radish seed (radish seeds). The violets in flowers are also of the Cruciferae family.

　　A brief introduction to the anti-cancer component Isothiocyanate in cruciferous vegetables, sometimes referred to as isothiocyanate. Existing in cruciferous vegetables is "glucose isothiocyanate", which has no anti-cancer activity (or other activity). But after cooking, cutting, and chewing, the plant cells are destroyed, and under the action of certain enzymes, isothiocyanate is formed. There may also be other active substances formed, such as indole, sulforaphane, etc.

　　Isothiocyanate is also a source of spiciness in food such as radish, mustard, mustard and horseradish. At present, I do not have the detection data of isothiocyanate content in various cruciferous vegetables. But there is information that raw vegetables can get more isothiocyanate than heating it; cooking for a longer time (30 minutes) can cause a large reduction in isothiocyanate. In comparison, steaming (20 minutes) , Microwave (3 minutes), stir-fry (5 minutes) is beneficial to retain more isothiocyanate.

　　 Epidemiological studies have shown that cruciferous vegetables can reduce the risk of some cancers, such as lung cancer, colon cancer, breast cancer and so on. Among them, the cruciferous vegetables with prominent anti-cancer effect (more research) include broccoli (green cauliflower), radish, cabbage, cabbage and so on. More animal evidence has been obtained on animal studies of isothiocyanate against cancer. As an anticancer drug, isothiocyanate has been initially tried and researched. There are also many understandings about the anti-cancer mechanism of isothiocyanate.

　　Of course, like other vegetables, the anti-cancer effect of cruciferous vegetables is likely to be the result of a combination of factors (such as vitamins, chlorophyll, carotene, flavonoids, etc.), not just Isothiocyanate.