Evidence indicates that cruciferous vegetables are protective against a range of
cancers with
glucosinolates and their breakdown products considered the biologically active constituents. To date, epidemiological studies have not investigated the intakes of these constituents due to a lack of food composition databases. The aim of the present study was to develop a database for the
glucosinolate content of cruciferous vegetables that can be used to quantify dietary exposure for use in epidemiological studies of diet-disease relationships. Published food composition data sources for the
glucosinolate content of cruciferous vegetables were identified and assessed for data quality using established criteria. Adequate data for the total
glucosinolate content were available from eighteen published studies providing 140 estimates for forty-two items. The highest
glucosinolate values were for cress (389 mg/100 g) while the lowest values were for Pe-tsai chinese cabbage (20 mg/100 g). There is considerable variation in the values reported for the same vegetable by different studies, with a median difference between the minimum and maximum values of 5.8-fold. Limited analysis of cooked cruciferous vegetables has been conducted; however, the available data show that average losses during cooking are approximately 36 %. This is the first attempt to collate the available literature on the
glucosinolate content of cruciferous vegetables. These data will allow quantification of intakes of the
glucosinolates, which can be used in epidemiological studies to investigate the role of cruciferous vegetables in
cancer aetiology and prevention.