It’s likely the sulforaphane, the compound that doesn’t actually fight cancer at all. Similar to the sulfur containing compounds in onions, it’s an irritant created when radish tissue is damaged to repel pests. In mammals, it irritates the lining of the digestive tract and causes the lower esophageal sphincter, which normally keeps stomach acid from refluxing, to relax.
HugeNerd@lemmy.ca 6 days ago
Dunno, but wiki says “Sulforaphane is present in cruciferous vegetables, such as broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and cabbage. Sulforaphane has two possible stereoisomers due to the presence of a stereogenic sulfur atom.[3]”
I eat those three foods with no problem, unless radishes are the different isomer…
SoleInvictus@lemmy.blahaj.zone 6 days ago
Sulforaphane is heat labile, so cooking breaks some of it down. Broccoli and cabbage are fairly low in it, while Brussels sprouts and radishes are quite high. Radishes also have high amounts of sulforaphene, a related compound with similar properties. So it might be cooked vs raw, quantity consumed, -phane vs -phane/-phene, or something else entirely.
Only the R-isomer is found in any appreciable amount in nature, so it’s probably not that unless you’re eating research radishes.
HugeNerd@lemmy.ca 6 days ago
Duh. I’m not braining too well today, of course it’s the cooking.
SoleInvictus@lemmy.blahaj.zone 6 days ago
You’re fine! I had to ask myself why I cared so much, and it’s because I love radishes but they also wreck my guts. I have no problem eating them cooked, though the spicy/snappy flavor goes away because that’s the sulforaphane/phene.
It’s yet another vegetable humans love because of the thing it makes to keep animals from eating it. We’re culinary masochists.