The current webpage is designed to make additional research available concerning how certain vegetables or their major bioactive components can increase the treatment effects of aromatase inhibitors. At the bottom of this webpage are links to studies relating to the beneficial vegetables in Foods to eat & avoid during aromatase inhibitor treatment.
The following foods have been tested and found specifically to increase the inhibition of aromatase:
Vegetables inhibit aromatase primarily through the actions of polyphenols, among them:
- Alpha-carotene (found, for example, in butternut squash, carrots, and pumpkins)
- Apigenin (cabbage & bok choy, bell peppers, celery)
- Beta-carotene (collard greens, carrots, sweet potatoes)
- Capsaicin (hot peppers)
- Ferulic acid (artichokes)
- I3C/DIM (Brussels sprouts, broccoli & broccoli sprouts, watercress & garden cress)
- Isothiocyanates such as AITC (found in cruciferous vegetables such as arugula, cauliflower, and radishes)
- Kaempferol (chives, greens, kale)
- Luteolin (celery, hot peppers, radicchio)
- Lycopene (red or orange bell peppers, tomatoes)
- Quercetin (hot peppers, all types of onions, romaine lettuce)
- Sulforaphane (cabbage, kale, turnips)
Vegetable micronutrients should be obtained by eating vegetables rather than taking supplements. When a beneficial micronutrient is administered at low doses by consuming food, it is likely to have subtle chemopreventive effects, whereas the same compound administered at high doses is more likely to have pharmacological effects, with possible unwanted outcomes. For example, quercetin has been reported to contribute to the growth of estrogen-induced mammary tumors once the tumors were established in female rats.