"Well, you know, overall greens are the healthiest vegetables, and the healthiest types of greens are the cruciferous greens, the broccoli family of vegetables like kale and collard greens, but cabbage also fits into that family. And those purple and red cabbages have the same special eyesight and brain protective antioxidants that the berries do, but at a fraction of the cost. — Dr Greger

"Some foods and food groups have special nutrients not found in abundance elsewhere. For example, sulforaphane, the amazing liver-enzyme detox-boosting compound, is derived nearly exclusively from cruciferous vegetables. You could eat tons of other kinds of greens and vegetables on a given day, and get no appreciable sulforaphane if you didn't eat something cruciferous." — Dr Greger

"Common cruciferous vegetables include broccoli, cabbage, collards, and kale. I recommend at least one serving a day (typically a half-cup) and at least two additional servings of greens a day — cruciferous or otherwise. Serving sizes for other greens and vegetables are a cup for raw leafy vegetables, a half-cup for other raw or cooked non-leafy vegetables, and a quarter-cup for dried mushrooms." — Dr Greger

Sulforaphane is a phenolic phytonutrient with beneficial antioxidative properties. It has been shown to target breast cancer stem cells, while leaving alone the good stem cells. Sulforaphane may also reduce the mortality rate in bladder cancer patients. It may boost our liver's own detoxifying enzymes as well as protect our brain, protect our eyesight, and protect against free radicals.

Best Source of Sulforaphane: Broccoli

Sulforaphane can be obtained from all cruciferous vegetables like kale, cauliflower or kohlrabi, with broccoli being the best source by far. Broccoli sprouts may be up to 25 times more potent than regular raw broccoli.

The more commonly known cruciferous vegetables include broccoli, cauliflower, and kale, but there are many others in this family, such as collard greens, watercress, bok choy, kohlrabi, rutabaga, turnips, arugula, radishes (including horseradish), wasabi, and all types of cabbage.

Cruciferous vegetables can potentially prevent DNA damage and metastatic cancer spread, activate defenses against pathogens and pollutants, help to prevent lymphoma, boost your liver detox enzymes, target breast cancer stem cells, and reduce the risk of prostate cancer progression. The component responsible for these benefits is thought to be sulforaphane, which is formed almost exclusively in cruciferous vegetables.

Beyond being a promising anticancer agent, sulforaphane may also help protect your brain and your eyesight, reduce nasal allergy inflammation, manage type 2 diabetes, and was recently found to successfully help treat autism. A placebo-controlled, double-blind, randomized trial of boys with autism found that about two to three cruciferous vegetable servings’ worth of sulforaphane a day improves social interaction, abnormal behavior, and verbal communication within a matter of weeks. The researchers, primarily from Harvard University and Johns Hopkins University, suggest that the effect might be due to sulforaphane’s role as a "detoxicant."