Nothing excites health journalists (and their readers) more than a story about the latest “superfood”. From pomegranates and watercress to Goji berries and even chocolate, we’re bombarded with tales about cancer-fighting fruit and veg.
Reading the news, you might be led to think that a diet of red wine and jam is all you need. And just this week the media is hailing broccoli juice as the next ‘cure for bladder cancer’.
Ed’s already gone into some detail as to why “superfood” stories are often scientifically misguided, and how it’s unlikely that eating these foods can cut cancer risk. But naturally-occurring chemicals do have their place in the fight against cancer – for example, aspirin (originally derived from willow bark) is being researched as a cancer- preventing drug.
And while we definitely don’t endorse glugging broccoli juice as a treatment for cancer (the Daily Mail doesn’t count as a peer-reviewed journal) and – contrary to the news report – we’re not investigating the specific juice recipe in question, we are funding a study to test whether a chemical found in broccoli can help to curb the development of cervical cancer. And that’s not all – we’re also funding research to get to the scientific root of some of these so-called “superfoods”.
Posted by Kat Arney 
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