Cancer spread halted by broccoli

Published on Sunday 20 July 2008 22:01

AN ELDERLY cancer sufferer told yesterday how he believed he had stopped the spread of the disease by drinking a daily tumbler of broccoli juice.

Ray Wiseman, 79, a grandfather from Braunstone, Leicester, was diagnosed with bladder cancer five and a half years ago and doctors, he said, did not expect him to survive.

But the former clothing worker was told that the cancer had been halted in its tracks and experts at Cancer Research UK want to examine the possible link with his broccoli habit.

"I take this juice every day," said Mr Wiseman, a father-of-three. "I know it's done me good. I suppose it would be the same for everybody."

His wife Joan, 72, began preparing the juice for her husband, adding carrots and apples for taste, after a friend told her about the green vegetable's health benefits. She said: "We believe my husband's incredible luck is down to broccoli. I hope our experience can help other cancer sufferers. The juice is a mess to make but it's something we have been welcome to clear up. He now just takes it as second nature."

Mrs Wiseman said cancer researchers asked her for the drink's simple recipe after scans showed that the spread of her husband's disease had been kept at bay.

"If anybody else's husband is suffering from cancer and they are not getting on too well, it could help them," she said.

About 10,100 people are diagnosed with bladder cancer each year in the UK, making it the fifth commonest form of the disease. It is much more common in men than in women.

Recent studies pointed to the possible cancer-beating benefits of broccoli, a member of the cabbage family.

British scientists at the Institute of Food Research found men who ate one daily portion of it had altered patterns of gene activity in their prostates, suggesting that the chemicals in the vegetable might be able to reduce the risk of prostate cancer.

According to a report in the British Journal of Cancer in 2006, naturally-occurring chemicals found in certain vegetables, such as broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage, can enhance DNA repair in cells, perhaps helping to stop them becoming cancerous.