Cruciferous vegetables such vegetables. Cruciferous vegetables Cruciferous vegetables are vegetables of the family Brassicaceae (also called Cruciferae) with many genera, species, and cultivars being raised for food production such as cauliflower, cabbage, garden cress, bok choy, broccoli, Brussels sprouts and similar green leaf vegetables. The family takes its alternative name (Cruciferae, New Latin for "cross-bearing") from the shape of their flowers, whose four petals resemble a cross. Ten of the most common cruciferous vegetables eaten by people, known colloquially in North America as cole crops and in Britain and Ireland as "brassicas", are in a single species ("Brassica oleracea"); they are not
Cruciferous vegetables to isothiocyanates (ITCs) by the action of myrosinase. ITCs, possibly a bioactive component in cruciferous vegetables, are being investigated for their chemopreventive and chemotherapeutic effects. As one example in laboratory research, ITCs such as phenethyl isothiocyanate reduced levels of the oncoprotein MCL1. Other in vitro research indicates ITCs may affect levels of the BCR-ABL fusion protein, the oncoprotein affecting mechanisms of leukemia. Chemicals contained in cruciferous vegetables induce the expression of the liver enzyme CYP1A2. Furthermore, some drugs such as haloperidol and theophylline are metabolized by CYP1A2. Consequently, consumption of cruciferous vegetables may decrease bioavailability and half-life of these drugs.