Effects of Dietary Broccoli on Antioxidant Enzymes,

Epidemiological and experimental animal studies indi-cate that dietary fresh fruit and vegetables decrease the risk of coronary heart disease and cancer (1-3). Besides vitamins and fibers, several groups of compounds are present in diets enriched in plant food. The plant constit-uents, e.g., carotenoids, polyphenols, flavonoids, and glu-cosinolates, may have protective potential. Several recent studies focused on the effects of dietary antioxidants on development of cancer and atherosclerosis. In a Dutch study, the reduced risk of coronary heart disease corre-lated well with the intake of flavonoids (4). Flavonoids, as aglycones, display such biochemical effects as antioxida-tive action, induction, and (or) inhibition of specific cyto-chrome P-450 (CYP) isoforms and glutathione S-trans-ferase (GST) isoforms (5) and inhibition of glutathion