What Are Cruciferous Vegetables?
Cruciferous vegetables are a group of plant foods rich in vitamins and minerals you need every day. They include many leafy greens and other dark green veggies, but they can come in other colors, too. They get their name from the Latin word cruciferae, which means “cross bearing,” because the plants have flowers with four petals that look like a cross.
When you include them as a regular part of your daily diet, cruciferous vegetables are linked with lower rates of many chronic diseases, including cancer and heart disease.
Low in calories and high in fiber, cruciferous vegetables also help you feel fuller longer. That can help people eating for weight loss or heart health.
Cruciferous Vegetables List
There are more than 3,000 cruciferous species, with the most common vegetables including:
- Broccoli
- Cauliflower
- Kale
- Brussel sprouts
- Cabbage
- Arugula
- Chard
- Collard greens
- Mustard greens
- Radish
- Rutabaga
- Turnip
- Wasabi
- Watercress
- Kohlrabi
- Daikon radish
- Horseradish
- Rapini (broccoli rabe)
Nutrition
Cruciferous vegetables vary in their exact nutritional profiles, but many of them are excellent sources of vitamins and minerals, including:
Also, cruciferous vegetables can be sources of:
- Glucosinolates, which are sulfur-containing chemicals that can give these veggies a bitter taste and strong smell
- Carotenoids, such as beta-carotene, which give the vegetables deep colors and have antioxidant powers (the ability to protect cells from damage)
- Omega-3 fats, found in leafy greens such as kale, which help fight inflammation
Nutrients per serving
Here's some of the nutrition you'll find in several common cruciferous vegetables. The amounts shown are in a 100-gram serving of raw vegetables. They're expressed as grams (g), milligrams (mg) and micrograms (ug).
Cruciferous Vegetable | Calories | Fiber (g) | Vitamin C (mg) | Vitamin K (ug) | Calcium (mg) | Beta-carotene (ug) | Glucosinolates (mg) |
| Broccoli | 39 | 2.4 | 91.3 | 102 | 46 | 93 | 1,297 |
| Cauliflower | 25 | 2 | 48.2 | 15.5 | 22 | 0 | 1,178 |
| Brussels sprouts | 43 | 3.8 | 85 | 177 | 42 | 450 | 1,013 |
| Kale | 35 | 4.1 | 93.4 | 390 | 254 | 2,870 | 1,206 |
| Chinese (napa) cabbage | 13 | 1 | 45 | 45.5 | 105 | 2,680 | 297 |
| Cabbage | 25 | 2.5 | 36.6 | 76 | 40 | 42 | 1,069 |
Portion sizes
Adults and teens should aim for at least 2.5 cups of vegetables, including cruciferous vegetables, every day. Younger children can eat a bit less.
Keep in mind that a 1-cup serving is considered:
- 1 cup of raw, cooked, frozen, or canned vegetables
- 1 cup of 100% vegetable juice
- 2 cups of leafy greens
Health Benefits of Cruciferous Vegetables
The anti-inflammatory and antioxidant chemicals in cruciferous vegetables, along with all their vitamins, minerals, and fiber, make them true nutritional powerhouses. Scientists have found evidence that eating those foods might improve your health in several ways.
Some of the potential benefits include:
Heart health
Diets high in fruits and vegetables are consistently linked to lower heart disease risk. Cruciferous vegetables, in particular, are linked with a lower risk of dying from heart disease.
One small study found that people eating cruciferous vegetables every day lowered their blood pressure more than people eating equal daily amounts of squashes and root vegetables, like carrots. Lowering your blood pressure can lower your risk of heart attacks and strokes. The blood pressure effect may be due to the glucosinolates in cruciferous vegetables.
Those chemicals also may help reduce your LDL (bad) cholesterol and raise your levels of HDL (good) cholesterol. Healthy cholesterol levels help keep your arteries free from fatty deposits that lead to heart problems and strokes.
Cancer protection
During digestion, the glucosinolates in cruciferous vegetables have been shown to create compounds that can kill cancer cells, stop tumor growth, and protect healthy cells from damage. But these studies have been done in animals and lab dishes, not humans.
Study results in people have been mixed. Some, but not all, studies have shown that people who eat a lot of cruciferous vegetables have lower rates of prostate, colorectal, lung, and breast cancers.
Improved immunity
The antioxidants in cruciferous vegetables may help protect your immune system as you age. A stronger immune system protects you from infections, and also from cancer. Sulforaphane, a chemical created from glucosinolates when you chew foods like broccoli, might play a key role. The high vitamin C levels in many cruciferous vegetables also can boost immunity.
Weight loss
Like other veggies, cruciferous vegetables are low in calories. That means you can eat a lot of them without blowing your daily calorie goals (as long as you don't smother them in high-calorie sauces or dips). They also are high in fiber, which helps you feel full. Cruciferous vegetables can go a long way toward helping you meet your daily fiber goals. Research shows that aiming for 30 grams of fiber each day can help you lose weight, even if you don't make any other changes to your diet.
Digestive system health
Fiber is also good for your gut health, and the fiber in cruciferous vegetables helps in more than one way. These veggies are good sources of both soluble and insoluble fiber. Soluble fiber is the kind that dissolves in water and other body fluids, forming a gel as it moves through your system. The helpful bacteria that live in your gut use this kind of fiber for food. Insoluble fiber has a different role. It absorbs fluid and helps create softer, bulkier, more regular poop.
Who Shouldn't Eat Cruciferous Vegetables?
Most people can eat cruciferous vegetables without any problem. But some people have to limit their intake or choose carefully among these veggies.
These include people with:
Bloating and gas problems
Cruciferous vegetables have a reputation for making people gassy. Any sudden increase in fiber in your diet can do that. Foods that cause a lot of fermentation in your gut, including some cruciferous vegetables, may create extra gas and bloating for some people.
Adding fibrous foods slowly can help. Also, you might find that some cruciferous vegetables make you less gassy than others. If broccoli, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts are giving you trouble, try leafy greens like kale and spinach instead.
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)
Along with bloating and gassiness, people with IBS can have constipation, diarrhea, or both, often triggered by eating certain foods. Cruciferous vegetables like broccoli and cauliflower are on the problem list for many people with IBS.
To find out which foods are OK for you and which you might need to limit or cut out entirely, you can work with a dietitian. They often recommend eliminating and then slowly adding back a long list of foods, including cruciferous vegetables, to see how your symptoms change. This is called the low-FODMAP diet. (FODMAP stands for fermentable oligo-saccharides, disaccharides, mono-saccharides, and polyols, which are carbohydrates found in foods that cause symptoms in some people.)
Blood-thinning issues
If you take a blood-thinning medication like warfarin (Coumadin), your doctor may ask you to use caution with foods high in vitamin K, including some cruciferous vegetables. That's because vitamin K, which promotes blood clotting, can interfere with some of those medicines.
But, contrary to common belief, that doesn't mean you can't eat broccoli or dark salad greens if you take those drugs. Instead, you'll need to keep your vitamin K intake about the same every day, so that you have a steady balance. Also, many newer blood-thinning drugs, including apixaban (Eliquis), dabigatran (Pradaxa), and rivaroxaban (Xarelto), don't interact with vitamin K, so you can eat all the greens you want.
Cruciferous vegetable allergies
It's possible to become allergic to broccoli, kale, or other cruciferous vegetables, but it's pretty rare. If you have allergy symptoms, such hives or swollen lips, after eating any food, you should get testing to confirm the cause.
Iodine deficiency
If you don't have enough iodine in your body, eating a lot of cruciferous vegetables might be a problem. That's because the vegetables contain substances that can interfere with the way the body uses iodine. But iodine deficiency is rare in North America.
Hypothyroidism?
Theoretically, eating a lot of cruciferous vegetables could interfere with how your thyroid uses iodine and produces thyroid hormone. So some people have worried that eating them might be a bad idea for people with low thyroid levels, or hypothyroidism. But you'd have to eat a huge amount, far more than you're likely to want, to have any negative effect.
How to Prepare Cruciferous Vegetables
Many cruciferous veggies are great raw, but they also can be cooked in more than one way. You can steam, boil, stir-fry, sauté, roast, and microwave many of them.
While there's no wrong way, it's worth knowing that cooking cruciferous vegetables can change their nutritional content. Research shows that longer cooking times can reduce levels of vitamins C and antioxidants like beta-carotene. So steaming your veggies instead of boiling them can help them retain more of those nutrients.
But cooking the vegetables also can make some nutrients more bioavailable, or easier for your body to absorb and use. That's true for vitamin A, iron, and calcium.
To get the best balance of cruciferous vegetables’ nutrients, include them in your diet in a variety of ways, like:
- Chopping up arugula or kale, instead of lighter greens, for a salad
- Adding bok choy or kale to soups and stews at the end of cooking, which helps retain water-soluble vitamins
- Stocking up on frozen vegetables like broccoli, which can be cheaper and may retain more nutrients than fresh veggies shipped and stored for weeks before you eat them
- Substituting turnips for potatoes in dishes like mash, gratin, or French fries
- Adding a serving of kale to a green smoothie or juice
- Grating cauliflower into rice or using it in place of flour in pizza crust
Cruciferous Vegetable Recipes
Here are a few basic recipe ideas for cruciferous vegetables:
Roasted Brussels sprouts
You can't go wrong by simply cutting, seasoning, and roasting them with olive oil in an oven at 400-425 F. But for a little pizzazz, try adding:
- Toasted pecans
- A glaze made with balsamic vinegar and apple juice
- Dried cranberries
Cruciferous veggie coleslaw
Cabbage is a good start, but it doesn't have to be the plain white or green stuff. Try purple or Chinese (napa) cabbage. You can boost your cruciferous vegetable intake by adding thin ribbons of broccoli, bok choy, Swiss chard, or kale. For sweetness, add some raisins, cranberries, or apples. Mix it all together with a traditional mayonnaise dressing or lighten it up with Greek yogurt or an Asian-style dressing using toasted sesame oil and soy sauce with peanut butter or tahini.
Broccoli and cauliflower stir-fry
For a healthy, meatless, twist on a take-out favorite, chop up a head of broccoli and a head of cauliflower, along with other veggies like celery, carrots, and peppers, and then:
- Heat some canola oil in a skillet, add the veggies, and stir-fry for a few minutes
- Make a sauce of pineapple juice, sugar, lemon juice, cornstarch, and soy sauce, and add it to the pan, cooking until it thickens
- Serve with brown rice
Do You Need Cruciferous Vegetable Supplements?
If you don't care for cruciferous vegetables, you might wonder if powdered greens and other supplements made from dried veggies and fruits are a good idea for you.
These products often include freeze-dried cruciferous vegetables such as kale, broccoli, and cabbage, along with fruits and herbs. Studies show that these products can raise blood levels of vitamins, minerals, beta-carotene, and other substances in people who don't eat recommended amounts of fruits and vegetables. They might provide some health benefits to some people and shouldn't be harmful if you use them as directed on labels.
But there's no evidence that they can provide all the benefits of eating whole foods, including cruciferous vegetables. One big disadvantage is that they don't provide much fiber. You'll get much more fiber from eating broccoli and kale than from adding powdered versions to your morning juice.
Takeaways
Whether you eat them in salads, stir-fries, smoothies, or roasted combinations, cruciferous vegetables bring a lot to the table. They provide vitamins, minerals, and fiber, along with other substances that might boost your heart health, help you prevent cancer, and keep your gut humming along. The choices range from broccoli and cauliflower to spinach and turnips – so if you don't like one of them, try another.
Cruciferous Vegetable FAQs
What are cruciferous greens?
Cruciferous greens are all the leafy green members of this vegetable family. They include kale, collards, arugula, mustard greens, watercress, and others.
What are the symptoms of cruciferous vegetable intolerance?
If you have a true allergy to cruciferous vegetables, you might get symptoms like hives, swollen lips, and even trouble breathing. That's rare. It's more common to have symptoms like gas, pain, bloating, and diarrhea. If you have those kinds of symptoms, it could just mean that you aren't used to eating high-fiber foods. If that's the case, you can build up your tolerance by adding fiber to your diet slowly. But having those symptoms regularly sometimes points to irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Some people with IBS are especially intolerant of cruciferous vegetables and have to limit them.
