Drink broccoli sprout to lower air pollution risks

A novel way of curbing health risks associated with air pollution could be consuming a broccoli sprout beverage.

Researchers have found that daily consumption of half a cup of broccoli sprout beverage produced rapid, significant and sustained higher levels of excretion of benzene - a known human carcinogen - and acrolein, a lung irritant.

Broccoli sprouts are a source of glucoraphanin - a compound that generates sulforaphane when the plant is chewed or the beverage swallowed.

It acts to increase enzymes that enhance the body's capacity to expunge these types of pollutants.

"Air pollution is a complex and pervasive public health problem," said John Groopman, a professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in the US.

"This study supports the development of food-based strategies as part of this overall prevention effort," Groopman added.

Diets rich in cruciferous vegetables, of which broccoli is one, have been found to reduce risk of chronic degenerative diseases including cancer.

For the study, researchers conducted a 12-week trial that included 291 participants who live in Jiangsu province in China.

The study appeared in the journal Cancer Prevention Research.

Air pollution, an increasing global problem, causes as many as seven million deaths a year worldwide, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).