03 August,2011 10:40 AM IST | | ANI
A woman in England is crediting her sudden addiction for lettuce and her husband's quick thinking for saving her life from breast cancer
Elsie Campbell, 59, from Derby, used to eat up to four lettuces a day, which puzzled her forensic scientist husband.
Jim realised that his wife''s craving could be a sign she was fighting a serious illness.
He found that lettuce and other green vegetables contain the compound sulforaphane - and a lack of it can be associated with breast cancer.
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The couple was stunned when hospital tests showed Elsie had the cancer, but has now made a full recovery thanks to the early diagnosis.
"I''d always eaten lettuce in salads but suddenly I just couldn''t get enough of it," the Sun quoted her as saying
"I could eat three or four a day. I''d eat a whole iceberg lettuce at work and sit on the bus on the way home, thinking about eating more. I''d get home and cut one into chunks and eat it like a watermelon," she added.
Strangely, as soon as the lump was removed, Elsie's craving vanished.
"I haven''t wanted to eat a lettuce leaf since," she said.
Elsie''s lettuce addiction was the condition known as Pica, where the body craves unusual and sometimes inedible things. It is usually pregnant women who have it.
She has now credited her husband with saving her life.
"I was so lucky Jim spotted the signs when he did - my lettuce addiction probably saved my life," she added.
