According to scientists, broccoli contains a chemical called sulphoraphane, which activates cancer-fighting enzymes inside cells.  Researchers say the richest source of sulphoraphane is contained in sprouts.

In a demonstration of the plant’s anti-cancer properties, investigators smeared broccoli sprout extract on the skin of six volunteers for three days, and then exposed them to high doses of ultraviolet radiation, which is the leading cause of skin cancer.

They found there was an average 37 percent less redness and sunburn in the patches covered by broccoli extract.  Redness and sunburn are an indication of skin damage that could lead to cancer.

The results of the study are published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Paul Talalay is a Johns Hopkins University molecular pharmacologist and the author of the study.  Talalay says sunscreen conferred no protection against the UV rays, but he says that does not mean people should stop using it.

“We want to avoid under all circumstances people doing weird things like making broccoli sprout soup and applying to their skin and thinking that they will be protected against the sun,” he said.  “They will have not have any protection whatsoever, because it’s a totally different mechanism and one cannot possibly substitute for the other.”

Applied as a thick cream, sunscreen protects the skin by deflecting the sun’s harmful rays.  But it must be constantly reapplied to remain effective.

In contrast, Talalay says, a compound made of broccoli sprouts works by penetrating skin cells and stimulating their natural cancer-fighting mechanism.

Observers call the research promising, but say more studies are needed because the results varied considerably among participants, ranging from a low of eight percent to a high of 78 percent protection against sunburn.  Talalay disagrees.

“Everybody knows you go to the beach and you get fried and I go to the beach and nothing happens to me,” he added.  “And we are in the same place.  So, the same experiment if done in a large number of individuals would be much more complex.  But I believe that the evidence certainly from animal studies is that we would get absolutely the same result.”

Talalay believes if it works in the skin, a sulphoraphane extract from broccoli sprouts is very likely to act as a hedge against cancer in other organs.

Meanwhile, researchers say there are a number of challenges in making a sun cream from broccoli sprouts, not the least of which is figuring out how to get rid of the green tint.

In a new study published online Monday in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, researchers report that the rate of double mastectomy in women with single-breast cancer rose 150 percent in six years - even though the aggressive treatment doesn’t necessarily improve survival rates.

The researchers used a national cancer-treatment database to study the treatment decisions of more than 150,000 women who were diagnosed with cancer in a single breast from 1998 to 2003. White women, younger women and women whose cancer originated in their milk glands, increasing risk of occurrence in the other breast, were more likely to choose a double mastectomy, the researchers found.

“It’s a very vulnerable time for these patients. In a very short period of time they have to decide how to treat their breast cancer. Under the stress of the situation they will have both breasts removed because it seems logical at the time,” said lead author Dr. Todd Tuttle, chief of surgical oncology at the University of Minnesota.

The actual number of women choosing double mastectomy remains relatively small: Of all women undergoing mastectomies of any kind in the study, 4.2 percent chose double mastectomy in 1998, rising to 11 percent in 2003. A total of 4,969 women in the study received a double mastectomy.

The trend is troubling, Tuttle said. Cancer is more likely to spread to other parts of the body than it is to develop in the second breast. Women often make the irreversible decision too quickly, when they are under duress, he said.

“I often tell patients to wait, saying, ‘Let’s treat the cancer we know about and deal with that,’ ” Tuttle said.

One in every eight women will develop invasive breast cancer at some time in their lives, according to the American Cancer Society. In 2004, the most recent year for which federal data is available, nearly 187,000 women in the United States were diagnosed with breast cancer and nearly 50,000 women died.

Typically discovered through mammography or direct examination, breast cancer is treated with medication, chemotherapy, radiation, and surgeries ranging from lumpectomy, in which a part of the breast is removed, to mastectomy, in which the entire breast is removed and in many cases reconstructed with implants or tissue from other parts of the body.

Doctors and patients’ advocates urged women considering the procedure to go for counseling and take their time before making a decision, noting that other risk-reducing options were available.