We’ve all heard Hippocrates’ famous belief that food is medicine. But nothing speaks louder regarding the medicinal powers of food as much as sulforaphane, a phytonutrient consisting of sulfur that is found in cruciferous vegetables.
Cruciferous vegetables include broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts and bok choy. These vegetables are high in glucoraphanin, which is inactive and converts to sulforaphane in your body, especially when it is combined with that mustardy, sharp-tasting chemical found in radishes, myrosinase.
Myrosinase, another plant compound, is also in broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables, but only in small amounts. We all know radishes by their spicy bite. This peppery flavor is myrosinase.
When you put these together—glucoraphanin and myrosinase—the magic happens.
It is believed that raw vegetables yield the highest amounts of sulforaphane, possibly ten times greater than that of cooked vegetables. If you must cook your broccoli, however, steaming it for a couple minutes is best. Your vegetables should still be crunchy, not mush!
It’s also important to keep the cooking temperature below 284 degrees since temperatures above this may reduce the vegetable’s glucoraphanin content.
Remember how your mom told you to chew your food well? It turns out that there is some science to this. Cutting up vegetables and chewing them well helps to further glucoraphanin into its active form.
So, what exactly are some of the benefits of sulforaphane? Here are some huge ones:
Cancer prevention:
Sulforaphane has demonstrated anti-cancer effects in a variety of different types of cancer, according to animal and test tube studies. It has proven to reduce the size of tumors as well as work as prevention. These studies utilized highly concentrated doses of sulforaphane.
Sulforaphane may block DNA’s ability to mutate, which stops cancer from proliferating, according to research.
High Blood Pressure:
Studies in rats have shown sulforaphane may play a role in reducing blood pressure and preventing heart disease. Other cardiovascular effects of sulforaphane improved cardiovascular complications such as vascular inflammation and atherosclerosis in animal models.
Diabetes:
Sulforaphane may impact blood sugar levels, and therefore, help people with diabetes. A study found that sulforaphane reduced fasting blood sugar by 6.5% and improved hemoglobin A1c.
Autism:
Sulforaphane may reduce the symptoms of autism, according to a double-blind, placebo-controlled study. Symptoms of irritability, lethargy and hyperactivity were reduced with sulforaphane supplementation.
So, how is sulforaphane able to create such a positive impact in the body? Sulforaphane is a powerful antioxidant that annihilates free radicals that you encounter on a daily basis—toxins that have the potential to harm you. These include chemicals in your food, pollution, UV rays, chemicals in your water, cleaning products, cosmetics and more.
Sulforaphane also reduces systemic inflammation. It helps put out the fire, which is thought to be the culprit of all chronic diseases.
Sulforaphane helps awaken your Nrf2 pathway, which helps your body improve the detoxification process. Opening this important detox pathway affects you down to the cellular level, allowing mitochondria to produce more ATP, or energy for the body.
Sulforaphane also helps detoxify your system down to the cellular level. A study on the effects of pollution found that sulforaphane increases excretion of airborne pollutants by 61%.
Our OncoProtect ES contains both Broccoli Seed Extract “Truebroc®” (providing sulforaphane glucosinolate 100 mg) and myrosinase from radish seed extract (2 mg). This powerful formula provides efficient and long-lasting support for the body’s detoxification processes while promoting optimal cellular health.
OncoProtect ES contains the highest dose of combined glucorophanin and myrosinase on the market as well as the purest ingredients.
There are many studies that demonstrate the anti-oxidant impact of sulforaphane. One in particular, out of Johns Hopkins, specifically references the increased bioavailability of sulforaphane with the addition of myrosinase in combination with glucorophanin.
According to this study, the addition of myrosinase provided, on average, 35% conversion to sulforaphane vs 10% without myrosinase present. Now, that's impressive!
Sources:
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/sulforaphane#food-sources
https://blog.daveasprey.com/sulforaphane-for-energy-weight-loss-and-detox/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4432495/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4637098/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28615356/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4125483/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6682992/