Glucosinolates are phytochemicals that are secondary metabolites produced by dicotyledons. The Brasicaceae family is the richest source of glucosinolates and most dietary glucosinolates come from vegetables such as broccoli, cabbage, Brussel sprouts and cauliflower. Glucosinolates have been shown to possess a number of health effects that relate to their ability to help with the detoxification pathways. Glucosinolates are not stable at high temperatures and so undergo thermal degradation during cooking. However, the cooking process also helps break down the cellulose cell walls of plants and this improves bioavailability of nutrients. Therefore cooking vegetables is a balancing act so as to provide enough heat to degrade the cell wall, but not too much such that it thermally degrades the phytochemicals including glucosinolates. Canning vegetables involves intense heating to sterilise the food inside the tin, and this is likely to result in a significant loss of nutritional value and significantly reduce the glucosinolate content.
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