Ray Wiseman, a 79 year old grandad was diagnosed with bladder cancer in 2003, at the time his prognosis was not good and Ray was not expected to survive.

However recent scans have revealed that the cancer has stopped spreading and his chances of a recovery have greatly improved.

Mr Wiseman attributes the turn around in his condition to the tumbler of broccoli juice that his wife prepares for him each day.

Mr Wiseman, who lives in Leicestershire, says he knows the daily juice has done him some good and suggests it could do the same for others.

The idea came from his wife Joan who is herself 72, after a friend told her about the healing benefits of green vegetables.

The daily cocktail is a combination of a head of broccoli with some apples and carrots which improve the taste and Joan says her husband's incredible luck is down to the broccoli.

Joan believes their experience could help other cancer sufferers.

Cancer Research UK have asked for the recipe so their scientists can carry out studies into the vegetable's benefits.

Recent research has suggested that broccoli might possibly have cancer-beating properties - 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.

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

Cancer Research UK says a lot of research has focused on broccoli and its healing properties and it should be part of a healthy diet that is high in all fruit and vegetables.

Bladder cancer is the fifth most common form of the disease and affects more men than women.

Broccoli is a member of the cabbage family and is rich in vitamin C and also has properties that boost the human immune systems helping to fight viruses, bacteria and cancer.

Research has found that boiling broccoli can reduce its anti-cancer compounds, while steaming and microwaving do not.

Cranberry juice had no discernible effect on E. coli bacteria without fimbriae, suggesting that compounds in the juice may act directly on the molecular structure of the fimbriae themselves. This reinforces previous work by the WPI team that showed that exposure to cranberry juice alters the shape of the fimbriae, causing them to become compressed. Using an atomic force microscope as a minute strain gauge, the team also showed that the adhesive force exerted by bacteria on urinary tract cells declined in direct proportion to the concentration of cranberry juice in the solution.

"Our results show that, at least for urinary tract infections, cranberry juice targets the right bacteria-those that cause disease-but has no effect on non-pathogenic organisms, suggesting that cranberry juice will not disrupt bacteria that are part of the normal flora in the gut," Camesano says. "We have also shown that this effect occurs at concentrations of cranberry juice that are comparable to levels we would expect to find in the urinary tract."

Camesano notes that unpublished work has shown that while cranberry juice has potent effects on disease-causing bacteria, those effects are transitory. "When we takes E. coli. bacteria that have been treated with cranberry juice and place them in normal growth media, they regain the ability to adhere to urinary tract cells," she says. "This suggests that to realize the antibacterial benefits of cranberry, one must consume cranberry juice regularly-perhaps daily."

For those watching calories, Camesano says other recent work in her lab has shown that the effects of regular cranberry juice cocktail and diet (sugar-free) cranberry juice are identical. "That's good news for people who do not like to consume a lot of sugary juice," she says.

wpi