21 Aug 2018 --- Chemicals produced by vegetables such as kale, cabbage and broccoli could help to maintain a healthy gut and prevent colon cancer, a new study from the Francis Crick Institute has found. The research, published in Immunity, shows that mice fed on a diet rich in indole-3-carbinol (I3C) – which is produced when we digest cruciferous vegetables – were protected from gut inflammation and colon cancer. While the benefits of eating vegetables are well known, so far, many of the underlying mechanisms remained elusive.