Broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and other cruciferous vegetables contain a cancer-protective nutrient called Indole-3-carbinol (I3C). Research at the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University suggests that pregnant and nursing women who eat lots of cruciferous vegetables may be able to protect their babies not only against childhood cancers but against lung cancer later in life. In the study with mice, investigators exposed pregnant animals to a single high does of an environmental pollutant called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), produced in the real world by cigarette smoking or burning wood, coal, cooking oil or diesel fuel. They found that 80 percent of the baby mice died young from an aggressive type of lymphoma and all of the survivors developed lung cancer in mouse middle-age. When they gave pregnant mice supplements of I3C along with exposing them to PAH, the lymphoma deaths were halved and the mid-life lung cancers were significantly reduced. This is one of the first studies to suggest that dietary protection against cancer can begin before birth. The researchers warned against taking supplements of IC3 during pregnancy – high doses in the first trimester may cause birth defects. But pregnant women can safely eat lots of broccoli and other types of cruciferous vegetables. The study was published in the October 2006 issue of Carcinogenesis.