Honey Mustard Brussels Sprout and Arugula Salad

Spring has arrived and all we want is fresh, simple, and delicious ingredients in our lives. The rich combination of ingredients in this recipe will give you a variety of textures, flavors, and great cancer-fighting nutrients. 

This salad will please your palate while also nourishing your body.  

Overall, the AntiCancer 360 approach doesn’t rely on just one anticancer diet. We choose one of five different anticancer diets depending on the case and situation. 

So today’s recipe will be perfect for those who want to use a plant-based diet and would like to enhance the anticancer potential of your plant-based meals. 

Plant-based foods, such as fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, and whole grains are packed with natural anticancer substances. The World Cancer Research Fund stated that eating plant-based foods to achieve a healthful diet is associated with a decrease in cancer risk [1].

This salad has the perfect crunch. The cranberries, pecans, and strawberries added on top provide a nice texture and added nutrients for greater anticancer potential.  

The brussels sprouts and baby arugula combo also blends very well with the other ingredients. 

You will be craving this meal even more due to its creaminess and mildly sweet honey mustard vinaigrette.

Store-bought cranberries are very high in added sugar. So we used sugar-free stevia-sweetened cranberries [2]. 

If you can get all the ingredients in organic form, that would be ideal. But, if not… You should get ingredients like strawberries in organic form since they’re known to be especially high in toxins if bought in the conventional form [3].

Here are some of the great anticancer ingredients that you will find in our mouth watering Honey Mustard Brussels Sprout and Arugula Salad. 

• Brussels Sprouts: Are especially high in kaempferol, an antioxidant that has been studied greatly for its many health-enhancing properties. Studies have shown the ability of kaempferol to reduce cancer cell growth, ease inflammation and improve heart health [4]. Other epidemiological studies have also identified an inverse relationship between kaempferol intake and cancer [5].

• Arugula: High amounts of erucin and sulforaphane are found in arugula. These two compounds have been shown in studies to help fight breast cancer cell growth and dissemination [6]. Other researchers have found that sulforaphane can inhibit the enzyme histone deacetylase (HDAC) that is involved in the progression of cancer cells [7]. 

• Pecans: In a study comparing different nuts and their anticancer effect, identified that the proliferation of HepG2 and Caco-2 cancer cells was significantly inhibited in a dose-dependent pattern after exposure to the extracts of nuts, with pecans and walnuts exhibiting the highest antiproliferative activity [8]. In cell and animal studies, ellagic acid and urolithins both present in pecans, can increase antioxidant enzymes and influence gene expression in ways that decrease growth and stimulate the self-destruction of cancer cells [9].

• Strawberries: Especially rich in vitamin C, anthocyanins, and phenolic acids such as ellagic acid. Ellagic acid might provide an antimutagenic and anticarcinogenic effect. Anthocyanins have been shown to inhibit the growth and spread of cancer cells, as well as activating signaling that leads to the self-destruction of abnormal cells. Another promising study also identified the powerful anti-proliferative activity that strawberries demonstrated on human liver cancer cells [10],[11]. 

• Cranberries: Cranberries are rich in bioactive constituents noted to improved immune function, decrease infections, reduced cardiovascular disease, and more recently cancer suppression [12]. The main source of cranberries potential for cancer prevention comes from its phenolic compounds [13].  A review of cranberry research targeting cancer showed positive effects of cranberries against 17 different types of cancers. Mechanisms of cranberry-linked cancer inhibition included cellular death induction via apoptosis, necrosis, and autophagy; reduction of cellular proliferation; alterations in reactive oxygen species; and modification of cytokine and signal transduction pathways [12].

• Mustard: Cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli and brussels sprouts contain “glucoraphanin” which, in the presence of the enzyme “myrosinase,” can convert  into “sulforaphane.” This is important because sulforaphane is a phytochemical that has great anticancer and detoxification potential. However, cooking inactivates the myrosinase, preventing the formation of sulforaphane. But recent studies have shown that adding an active source of myrosinase (such as powdered mustard seed) to cooked cruciferous vegetables can increase the bioavailability of sulforaphane by up to 4 times more in humans [14],[15],[16].  

This yummy and super-nutritious salad is easy and quick to make. It has a variety of textures for someone that likes something fresh and crunchy. It is also full of flavor. It will make a delicious and exciting well-balanced lunch, or dinner for the whole family.

 

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