Broccoli sprouts or extract with active myrosinase to generate sulforaphane.
In diabetic rats and in cells, sulforaphane (a broccoli compound) improved nerve conduction and nerve blood flow, through its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects (Nrf2/NF-κB pathways). Preclinical: promising but without proof in people.
View the study (study) →Review: sulforaphane from broccoli may target 'cancer stem cells', a population that is hard to eliminate with conventional chemotherapy and responsible for relapses. Evidence is mostly preclinical (laboratory/animals); it is not a cancer treatment in people.
View the study (study) →Pilot study in people: sulforaphane raised glutathione (the main antioxidant) in blood and brain, which is of interest in disorders such as schizophrenia, where glutathione tends to be low. Small pilot; promising signal, no clinical outcome yet.
View the study (study) →⏱ 3 min read
Sulforaphane is a bioactive compound derived mainly from broccoli and its sprouts, and to a lesser extent from other cruciferous vegetables, with a research profile that spans from epidemiological studies to clinical trials in humans and that has revealed antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anticancer properties of a potency and breadth that no other phytochemical identified to date has managed to match in terms of activating endogenous cellular protection pathways such as the Nrf2-Keap1 pathway.
Sulforaphane is the most potent natural inducer of Nrf2 activity known, a transcription factor that activates more than 200 cytoprotective proteins that protect against oxidative stress derived from injury, inflammation, and normal aging; its mechanism involves modification of the Keap1 protein, which normally keeps Nrf2 in the cytoplasm for degradation, preventing that inhibition and speeding up the cycle of Nrf2 entering and leaving the nucleus from about 129 minutes under normal conditions to only 80 minutes in the presence of sulforaphane, with effects that are amplified if combined with quercetin.
A double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in 75 men with prostate cancer after radical prostatectomy found that 60 milligrams daily of sulforaphane for six months resulted in a PSA doubling time of approximately 29 months among the men who took sulforaphane versus 16 months in the placebo group, a difference of 86 percent that reflects a significant slowing of tumor marker progression that was maintained for up to three months after the intervention ended, with no significant adverse effects.
In a placebo-controlled trial in Qidong, China, an area known for its high levels of air pollution, participants who consumed a broccoli sprout beverage containing sulforaphane increased urinary excretion of benzene by 61 percent and of acrolein by 23 percent compared with the placebo group, with effects that appeared from the first day of consumption and were sustained throughout the twelve-week trial and that also persisted for several months after the intervention ended, demonstrating that sulforaphane does not deplete the endogenous protective capacity but amplifies it in a lasting way.
A double-blind, placebo-controlled trial with 44 young males aged 13 to 27 diagnosed with moderate to severe ASD found that doses of sulforaphane derived from broccoli sprout extract between 50 and 150 micromoles daily for 18 weeks produced marked improvements in social interaction, behavior, and verbal communication according to assessments by parents, caregivers, and physicians; when treatment ended, scores returned toward pretreatment levels, suggesting that the effects depend on continued intake and that the source and method of obtaining the sulforaphane are determinants of its efficacy.
Broccoli sprouts contain between 10 and 100 times more glucoraphanin, the precursor of sulforaphane, than mature plants, but the conversion of glucoraphanin into sulforaphane requires the enzyme myrosinase, which is inactivated by heat during cooking; to maximize sulforaphane formation in cooked broccoli, external myrosinase can be added by adding ground mustard, horseradish, or raw broccoli sprouts to the already cooked dish, and vitamin C acts as a cofactor of myrosinase, amplifying the conversion even further, which makes this culinary combination a fascinating example of nutritional synergy.
Information, not medical advice. Scientific evidence reflects the quality of the studies.