3249 Of Cabbages and Kings

And Poles. A cancer study of Polish women in Warsaw and Polish-American women in Chicago, showed that the European Poles have much more protection against certain cancers because of . . . CABBAGE! Yes, they eat a lot more cabbage in Poland, including sauerkraut, but immigrant Poles tend to eat more like Americans. I just had no idea.

I fixed cooked cabbage last night for dinner--really just to use it up. I'd had a small head in the frig for about two weeks, and didn't want to make cole slaw again. I've found this really great site on the Internet called "The World's Healthiest Foods," and when I'm curious about the nutritional value of something, I look it up. This site has what every librarian loves--hundreds of references to refereed and scholarly journals, and what all non-nutritionists need--translation into a language we can understand. The site is well-designed and easy to read and print--also a big plus for me. Reading about cabbage I learned that it is a cruciferous vegetable with phytonutrients which "initiate an intricate dance inside our cells in which gene response elements direct and balance the steps among dozens of detoxification enzyme partners, each performing its own protective role in perfect balance with the other dancers."

Wow! It's romantic to eat cabbage! We've been "dancing with the stars" and didn't even know it.

Also, I learned that my mother probably did it right (this really isn't news to me). She used to give us children a wedge of raw cabbage for an after school snack or let us finish up the core if she was making slaw. We thought it was a wonderful treat. According to the Polish study, women get the most life time protection from raw cabbage if they eat it during childhood. The article also reports that I left mine in the refrigerator too long, so it probably lost a lot of the nutrients, especially Vitamin C. It quickly degrades once it has been cut, and I also didn't have mine tightly wrapped. Although I did lightly saute the cabbage, I overcooked it when I reheated it. Apparently, there's not much left when you make cabbage rolls.

Unfortunately, the site says 3-5 servings a week of cruciferous/brassica vegetables to fight cancer, and there's not much in this family. Broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage are the only ones we eat. So even if you eat each just once a week. . . your house will always stink. I suppose I could break away from white and red and try some of the Asian cabbages--there are many of those.

cabbage
vegetables
cruciferous vegetables
healthy foods