Just got back from work and found a very timely Science Daily article: http://goo.gl/EDoLA 

In a nutshell, compared to mice fed a diet filled with lovely cruciferous (=broccoli etc.) veggies, mice fed a diet without any of the healthful green stuff had much lower amounts of crucial immune cells, which led to their having lower levels of antimicrobial proteins, heightened immune activation and greater susceptibility to injury. We’re talking, 70 to 80% of the no-veggie mice’s crucial, protective immune cells simply vanished. After only two-three weeks without any broccoli-related greenies! No kidding. Even the researchers weren’t expecting such an incredible result…

Speaking of results, they offer a molecular basis for the importance of cruciferous vegetable-derived phyto-nutrients as part of a healthy diet. I’m not surprised, of course, but now for the first time, according to these researchers, we have MOLECULAR PROOF that our diet can have a huge impact on our health…on our immune system…blablabla. Ah, if only I could go back in time, I’d avoid eating all the easy-to-fix, fast food chemical rubbish that I swallowed hastily throughout my undergrad and graduate years. Back then, food wasn’t important to me, and I was so focused on my studies that I paid no attention to my health. How foolish. But, true, I didn’t know any of this stuff…back then…

Anyway, this is a super important article, easy to read, so I really urge all of you to go have a look at the details that I haven’t included here but that are fascinating…

And those who are scientifically-inclined might want to check out the abstract of this study (the full study isn’t available for free online, unfortunately): http://goo.gl/63dme Have a look in particular at the “Graphical Abstract.” A stunning image that shows the difference between a healthy small intestine “fed” with cruciferous veggies and an unhealthy one…Cool graphics, yes, but what is really important is the message: without the green veggies, we have reduced immune surveillance, and we are subject to being “inflamed” all the time…not good, eh! The abstract also addresses the issue of epithelial cells, which I wrote about in my quercetin post (October 16 2011). 

And now, something just for the fun of it…and to give a boost to our tired immune cells! A cat answers the phone: http://goo.gl/Zv2tf Enjoy! 🙂