SCIENCE / MEDICINE : Cutting Risk of Breast Cancer

A chemical isolated from cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower lowers the risk of breast cancer, but it is unlikely that drug companies will want to market the chemical because it cannot be patented, researchers said last week.

Leon Bradlow and Jon Michnovicz of the Institute for Hormone Research in New York City reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute that the chemical, known as indole-3-carbinol, reduces the risk of breast cancer by speeding up the process by which the body metabolizes the female hormone estrogen.

Several previous studies have suggested that people with diets rich in vegetables like cabbage and broccoli have lower cancer rates than the general public, but Bradlow and Michnovicz are the first to identify the chemical responsible.

Furthermore, they have since demonstrated--in a second, as-yet unpublished study--that feeding indole-3-carbinol to tumor-prone mice markedly reduced their cancer risk.