The Study
A watercress drink increases detoxification of common environmental carcinogens such as acrolein and benzene: Results of a randomized clinical trial
This study showed that when people drank a watercress drink, their bodies got better at flushing out certain harmful chemicals found in smoke and pollution. But it didn't show that drinking watercress stops people from getting sick or cancer — just that their bodies processed those chemicals faster.
Analysis score
Maximum 90 for a randomized controlled trial.
Where the score came from
Scientists gave people a special watercress drink every day to see if it helps their bodies get rid of harmful chemicals from smoke and pollution.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 568 / 100
Quality score
Participants are randomly assigned to treatment or control groups, minimizing bias. The gold standard for testing whether an intervention causes an effect.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1Yes — these chemicals are known carcinogens found in wildfire smoke, car exhaust, and cooked food; boosting their removal may lower cancer risk.
- 2After drinking the watercress drink for a week or two, people's urine showed 19% to 66% more detox markers — especially 66% more for acrolein and 37% more for benzene.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
Carcinogenesis
Year
2025
Authors
S. Hecht, S. Carmella, Saonli Basu, Menglan Chen, Milo Wittman, Mei-Kuen Tang, Yingchun Zhao, Jessica Lu, D. N.G., Emily A. Heath, Naomi Fujioka, A. Egbert, Lori G Strayer, Ayaantuu F. Usman, Nicole M Thomson, Sharon E. Murphy, Dorothy K. Hatsukami
Related Content
Claims (6)
Sulforaphane triggers a cellular pathway that enhances the liver's ability to break down and the kidneys' ability to remove toxic chemicals like BPA and benzene from the body.
Healthy adults who drink a freeze-dried watercress beverage containing 40 mg of PEITC daily for two weeks show a measurable increase in urinary biomarkers for five environmental carcinogens, with increases ranging from 18.8% to 55.2%.
Consuming 40 mg of 2-phenethyl isothiocyanate from freeze-dried watercress each day for one week results in urinary biomarker levels that match those seen after two weeks of consumption, indicating faster detoxification of environmental carcinogens.
Drinking a freeze-dried watercress beverage increases mercapturic acid biomarkers in all people, whether or not they have specific genetic variations in GSTM1 and GSTT1 enzymes, with only slightly higher increases in those with both genes missing.
Drinking a freeze-dried watercress beverage containing 40 mg of PEITC daily for two weeks increases the amount of specific detoxification byproducts in urine by 65.6% for acrolein and 37.3% for benzene in healthy adults.
Drinking a freeze-dried watercress beverage containing 40 mg of PEITC every day for two weeks increases the body's ability to eliminate environmental carcinogens, as shown by higher levels of six specific biomarkers in non-smokers.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.