{"id":3556,"date":"2019-02-01T07:54:18","date_gmt":"2019-02-01T07:54:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/simplyhealth.today\/?p=3556"},"modified":"2021-05-25T18:42:06","modified_gmt":"2021-05-25T18:42:06","slug":"10-myths-about-brocolli-finally-debunked","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/simplyhealth.today\/10-myths-about-brocolli-finally-debunked\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Myths About Broccoli Finally Debunked"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Most kids aren\u2019t too fond of broccoli. I was nothing like those kids. I couldn\u2019t get enough of these tiny trees. For as long as I can remember, my mom would give me a side of broccoli with every meal. Whenever I would express my love for broccoli at my school. I\u2019d often be the subject of ridicule with all my classmates. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That said, I haven\u2019t gotten the flu in three years so I have the last laugh. Still, the world is full of those who hate broccoli \u2014 for reasons unknown to me. These people who see these tiny trees as a vegetative menace tend to spread myths that discourage others from both eating them and feeding them to their children. After doing my due research, I\u2019ve written this article to debunk eight such myths so that more people can enjoy both the neutral taste and extensive health benefits that broccoli has to offer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Broccoli was invented by Nazis<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s start by getting this one out of the way. This story was always amusing to me and growing up in Boston, it was a common schoolyard tale. The story goes that in the last few months prior to Hitler\u2019s suicide, he began to grow insane due to the war and the fact that he was losing. Thus, in his \u2014 even more \u2014 insane state, he instructed his scientists to invent a shrink ray. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One they had, he used it to shrink trees and voila broccoli <\/a>is born. There are many things wrong with this story. For one, if they were literal shrunken trees they\u2019d have pieces of wood attached to them. Secondly, if the Nazis had a shrink ray they wouldn\u2019t have lost the war. Broccoli existed thousands of years prior to the birth of Hitler \u2014 circa 6th century BC, in fact. It originated in Italy \u2014 ironic how those in Boston wouldn\u2019t know this \u2014 and was eaten since the age of Ancient Rome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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2. Broccoli hail from their own genus<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Okay, this one isn\u2019t as severely inaccurate nor malicious as the last one, but I thought it was worth debunking anyway. It\u2019s a common misconception that broccoli is a member of its own family. Some refer to the family as brocculus or broccolius. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That said, it is actually a member of the cabbage family since it\u2019s a cruciferous vegetable. The name broccoli comes from the Italian word broccolo. The word broccolo roughly translates to the \u201ccabbage flower top\u201d in English. So again, with regards to the previous myth, broccoli is a cabbage <\/a>relative, not trees shrunken by Nazis. It\u2019s worth noting that while the two vegetables are related, the water content in cabbage is far higher than that of broccoli. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve often found that mixing the two members of the family together in a salad then adding some ranch dressing \u2014 or olive oil if you\u2019re n a diet \u2014 makes for a delicious treat. Sure, it\u2019s vegetable incest, but the cruciferous culture is different than ours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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3. Oranges have 10x more vitamin C than broccoli<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Again, another myth spread by those who hate broccoli in the hopes of leading parents to feed their kids a ball of citrus rather than these tasty green veggie snacks. Don\u2019t get me wrong, I have nothing against oranges or other citrus fruits like lemons<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That said, I do have something against people who would outright lie about the nutritional content of broccoli. One cup of broccoli is enough to give you all the vitamin C that you need for that day. The vitamin C in one orange is equal to that of a cup of broccoli. This being the case, it\u2019s clear that the gap in vitamin C between broccoli and oranges is not something as insane as tenfold. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bear in mind that I\u2019m referring to the vitamin C content in raw broccoli, not steamed. All this being said, if you still prefer to eat oranges then I hold nothing against you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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4. There\u2019s no vitamin A in broccoli<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It seems like the nutritional content of broccoli is the favorite target for those who hate this yummy vegetable. This claim couldn\u2019t be further from the truth as broccoli actually has very high levels of vitamin A. Vitamin A<\/a> is a great vitamin because it protects your cells from cancer. Furthermore, it keeps your eyes nice and healthy to avoid many diseases like glaucoma. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond that, vitamin A also keeps your teeth healthy, bones strong, skin smooth, and even helps you break down kidney stones so that you can pass them through your urine. There\u2019s no question about the benefits that vitamin A has to offer, and eating broccoli is one of the best \u2014 and yummiest \u2014 ways of getting your daily dose. If you\u2019re not a fan of the neutral taste of broccoli, you can add some flavor to it with oyster sauce. It might sound like a weird suggestion, but trust me when I say that the union of flavors is truly savory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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5. Broccoli doesn\u2019t contain fiber<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I swear if I hear one more myth about the nutrition that broccoli provides I will invent a broccoli bazooka and shoot everyone who\u2019s spreading these lies. Much like the previous nutritional myths, the claim is actually the exact opposite of the truth. Broccoli is, in fact, very high in fiber <\/a>content. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I say it\u2019s high in fiber, I\u2019m not just referring to insoluble fiber, I\u2019m including soluble fiber too. Seeing as your body requires both types of fiber in order to be able to operate efficiently, it\u2019s a great idea to include more broccoli in your diet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other people who aren\u2019t a fan of broccoli would have to eat two different foods to get the two types of fiber that their body needs whereas broccoli can get you both fo them in one serving. If you don\u2019t want to reap the benefits of fiber, that\u2019s your choice, but don\u2019t go hating on broccoli and making false claims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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6. Broccoli was brought to the United States during the second world war<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Oh boy, another origin story myth. Broccoli was in the united states long before the second world war. This myth is sometimes used as an extension of the Nazi story. They would continue the false story claiming that the Americans captured the shrink ray after Hitler killed himself, reverse engineered it, and then used it to make their own broccoli. There are tons of holes in this story. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Firstly, if the US military managed to capture and reverse engineer a Nazi shrink ray, they\u2019d use it to make faster computers and undetectable spy drones, not small trees \u2014 which again, broccoli isn\u2019t. The true story for when and how broccoli reached the United States lies with Thomas Jefferson. See, this founding father of America was a huge fan of eating broccoli \u2014 much like myself \u2014 thus he decided to bring his seeds <\/a>from Italy and plant it in the new world. Most historians estimate that this was around the year 1767.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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7. Broccoli causes cancer, heart disease, or diabetes<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Okay, telling tale tales about how broccoli came to be is one thing, and lying about nutritional content is another, but making unsubstantiated claims that a vegetable causes one or more debilitating diseases is going way over the line. Broccoli most certainly does not cause any of the above diseases, in fact, it evens help treat or prevent them. The flavonoid <\/a>kaempferol is present in broccoli. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This flavonoid lowers your odds of developing heart disease or cancer at any point throughout your life. It has also been shown to prevent the development of type 2 diabetes in adults. There have also been other diseases that are supposedly caused by broccoli \u2014 equally unsubstantiated, of course \u2014 but these three are the ones mentioned most often. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One such \u201cdisease\u201d that they have suggested broccoli causes is frostbite. This is absurd on numerous levels since frostbite isn\u2019t a disease, it\u2019s cell death due to extreme cold. Unless you\u2019re chilling your broccoli at absolute zero, it\u2019s not gonna cause frostbite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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8. Most broccoli is imported from other countries<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Not even sure why someone would go about spreading this myth. It\u2019s probably aimed at households who loathe international trade and think we should keep all our jobs, production, and knowledge within our borders. While it\u2019s true that some broccoli is imported into our country from Italy and other nations, most of it is actually grown here to reduce costs. In fact, one state is responsible for 90% of all the broccoli produced in America. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This state is, of course, California. If you\u2019re eating broccoli, you\u2019re not \u201chanding America\u2019s money over to China,\u201d you\u2019re supporting farmers in California who have been growing this delicious green snack <\/a>in American soil since California became a state. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those who spread the myth that broccoli comes from international trade often claim that it\u2019s impossible to grow broccoli under the conditions in America. This is an absurd claim since many states like California have identical conditions to the origin point of broccoli, Italy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\r\n

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