A cancer patient credits his morning glass of broccoli juice with halting the disease. Ray Wiseman’s claim has prompted more research into the vegetable’s healing powers. Doctors told Mr Wiseman they did not expect him to survive, when they diagnosed him five years ago.

But scans show that his cancer has stopped spreading  -  vastly improving his chances of a recovery. The grandfather, 79, puts his health down to the tumbler of broccoli juice that his wife prepares for him each day.

Mr Wiseman, who lives in Braunstone, Leicestershire, said: ‘I take this juice every day. I know it’s done me good.  I suppose it would be the same for everybody.’

His wife Joan, 72, started giving him the juice after a friend told her about the healing benefits of green vegetables. For each half-tumbler dose she combines a head of broccoli with some apples and carrots to improve the taste.

She said: ‘We believe my husband’s incredible luck is down to broccoli. I hope our experience can help other cancer sufferers.  ‘The juice is a mess to make but it’s something we have been happy to clear up. He now just takes it as second nature.
‘If anybody else’s husband is suffering from cancer and they are not getting on too well, it could help them.’

Scientists from Cancer Research UK have asked her for the recipe, to further study the vegetable’s benefits.  Recent medical studies have highlighted the possible cancer-beating powers of broccoli.

British scientists at the Institute of Food Research found that men who ate one daily portion had altered patterns of gene activity in their prostates, suggesting that the chemicals in the vegetable might be able to reduce the risk of prostate cancer.

According to a report published in the British Journal of Cancer in 2006, natural chemicals found in certain vegetables, such as broccoli-cauliflower and cabbage, can enhance DNA repair in cells, which could help stop them becoming cancerous.

A spokesman for Cancer Research UK said: ‘There’s a lot of research that’s focused on broccoli and the healing properties that the vegetable contains.  ‘If taken, broccoli needs to be with a healthy diet that is high in all fruit and vegetables.  ‘This can also reduce the chances of developing cancer.’

Around 10,000 are diagnosed with bladder cancer every year in the UK . It is the fifth most common form of the disease and affects more men than women.

A member of the cabbage family, broccoli is rich in vitamin C and has properties that boost the human immune systems that fight viruses, bacteria and cancer.  Studies have found that boiling broccoli can reduce its anti-cancer compounds, but steaming and microwaving do not.

A global outbreak of bird flu is still a concern. A pandemic starts when three conditions are met: a new influenza virus subtype emerges; it infects humans, causing serious illness , and it spreads easily and sustainably among humans. Bird flu (the H5N1 virus) amply meets the first two conditions. It’s a new virus for humans and it has infected more than 100 people, killing over half of them. No one will have immunity should an H5N1-like pandemic virus emerge.

Fortunately, the virus has not yet shown efficient, sustained human-to-human transmission. The risk remains that it could acquire this ability as long as chances for human infections occur. These chances will persist as long as the virus circulates in birds, which could endure for years to come. The more human infections occur, the more opportunities the virus has to improve its ability to transmit among humans and develop into a pandemic strain.

Further concerns include: domestic ducks excrete highly pathogenic viruses without showing illness, which complicates control efforts; today’s virus is more lethal when tested on mice and ferrets; it appears to have expanded its host range, infecting and killing mammalian species that were once resistant; and the behavior of the virus in its natural reservoir, wild waterfowl, may be changing.