Feeding and Diet

Many popular diets advise against eating anything white. Foods like pasta, rice, white bread, sugar and other white foods are off limits. However, cauliflower is a white food you can feel good about eating. This nonstarchy vegetable is a cruciferous vegetable like cabbage and broccoli. High intake of cruciferous vegetables is associated with a lower risk of some cancers. They contain vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients, or plant nutrients, that may help neutralize damaging toxins.

Health Benefits of Cauliflower

Antioxidation

Cauliflower is a very good source of vitamin C and manganese, which are both powerful antioxidants. In fact, 1 cup of boiled cauliflower can already give you 55 mg of vitamin C. Aside from these antioxidants, cauliflower also contains carotenoids, such as beta-carotene, and phytonutrients that include kaempferol, ferulic acid, cinnamic acid and caffeic acid. With these antioxidants, you can be certain that eating cauliflower regularly will help protect you from free radical damage and reduce your risk for diseases caused by oxidative stress, such as cardiovascular diseases and cancer.

Anti-Inflammation

Cauliflower also contains high amounts of vitamin K and omega-3 fatty acids, which help decrease inflammation. A cup of boiled cauliflower contains about 11 micrograms of vitamin K and 0.21 g omega-3 fatty acids. Other anti-inflammatory substances in cauliflower include glucosinolates (such as glucoraphin) and isothiocyanates (such as isothiocyanate sulforaphane). Potentially, regular cauliflower consumption can help decrease the risk of inflammation-mediated diseases such as arthritis, obesity, diabetes mellitus, inflammatory bowel disease and ulcerative colitis.

Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular

By virtue of having antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, cauliflower consumption is protective against cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. For instance, in atherosclerosis, there is chronic inflammation of the blood vessel, and the deposition of lipids and white blood cells eventually leads to a decrease in their diameter. This decrease in diameter leads to decreased blood flow to essential organs like the brain (which could lead to stroke), heart (which could lead to heart attack) and kidneys (which could lead to kidney failure). By decreasing chronic inflammation, cauliflower is able to maintain the patency of the blood vessels and keeps excellent blood flow to essential organs of the body.

Digestive

A cup of boiled cauliflower delivers about 3.35 g of dietary fiber, which helps clean your digestive system and gets rid of unnecessary substances. Additionally, a substance called glucoraphin present in cauliflower appears to have a protective effect on your stomach lining. With glucoraphin, your stomach is not prone to the bacterium helicobacter pylori, thereby reducing your risk for stomach ulcer and cancer.

Nutritional