Your body is exposed to a daily onslaught of environmental and made-made chemicals.
Thankfully, you have natural detoxification systems to get rid of harmful substances like those found in air pollution, household products and even the food you eat. However, if these systems are compromised, your body is not able to keep up with the daily challenge of keeping you healthy. Sulforaphane is a natural phytochemical that activates your detoxification systems. By adding broccoli sprouts to your daily diet you may notice significant results.
How does Your Immune System Work?
Your immune system is (by far) your best defense against all of the microscopic critters and toxins that invade your body every day. It is an amazing system that has evolved over millions of years to be able to identify threats, analyze their structures, and produce specific antibodies that will destroy these invaders, all within a matter of days! This is far superior to anything the pharmaceutical and medical industries can produce.
And yet, few of us spend any time thinking about how important this system is to our survival, in fact, a myriad of clinical studies and lab tests have now revealed that the greatest threat to your immune system is YOU! More specifically, your diet and lifestyle choices can not only severely damage your immune system, but can actually turn it against you. Autoimmune diseases such as Rheumatoid arthritis, Hashimoto's, and Celiac disease are increasingly being linked to poor diet and lifestyle choices. Even your ability to avoid and/or combat diseases like cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer's, heart disease, autism, anxiety, etc (the list keeps growing) can be positively, or negatively, affected by your choices.
We are working on assembling links and blogs to some of the latest and most interesting studies that provide insight into the essential nutrients and other components that our bodies need to keep us healthy. You owe it to yourself and your family to learn how to preserve and protect these vital systems. Patient - Heal Thyself! If not now, When?
Learn more about your immune system in the video further down this page.
Sulforaphane
the New Super Hero
What is Sulforaphane?
If you want to get really scientific, the compound is called, anticarcinogenic isothiocyanate, and is abbreviated like this: C6H11NOS0
In simple terms, a natural sulfur-rich compound called glucoraphanin is found within cruciferous vegetables, such as brussel sprouts, kale, cauliflower and especially broccoli sprouts. This compound forms part of the plant's defense mechanism and when combined with another plant based enzyme called myrosinase converts to sulforaphane. When we consume these plants, sulforaphane acts as an inducer of our body’s natural detoxification system.
How does it Work?
The broccoli, or other cruciferous vegetable, must be cut or chewed for the sulforaphane to be activated. Once ingested it quickly finds its way to cells through the nrf2 pathway. Nrf2 enables our DNA to repair cells which have become oxidized and damaged through disease, air pollution, diet and general aging.
Your detoxification system has 2 phases to process chemicals we are exposed to every day: First, when these chemicals enter your body, Phase 1 detoxifying enzymes begin to process them into metabolites, which may be potentially harmful. An easy way to imagine these metabolites is as broken pieces of glass with "rough edges." These "rough edges," if not processed further, can harm normal cell function by damaging cellular DNA, proteins and lipids. Next, Phase 2 detoxifying enzymes process the potentially harmful metabolites into water-soluble compounds that can be easily excreted from your body. Sulforaphane helps increase the production of important Phase 2 detoxifying enzymes promoting your body’s natural detoxification process, thereby supporting the elimination of potentially harmful metabolites.
Why is it Good for us?
Sulforaphane is a powerful gene switcher. It turns on detoxification and antioxidant pathways that trigger multiple genes to carry out repairs throughout your body. The evidence of this is found in numerous studies and clinical trials, wherein sulforaphane has shown positive results in reducing cancer tumors and preventing cancers, and in improving other health issues such as Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular health, Alzheimer's, autism, aging, brain injury, protection against UVA & UVB, help with anxiety, improved liver function and expulsion of industrial and natural toxins.
What are Free Radicals?
Free Radicals are unstable compounds missing an electron. They are the byproduct of normal cell respiration, environmental pollution, UV rays to name a few.
If Free Radicals can't find "food" they feast on other healthy cells which break down cell walls leading to negative effects including acute and chronic health problems. (Auto-Immune Diseases)
Chronic exposure to free radicals creates oxidative stress which is posed as a threat, or inflammation, as we know it. Immune cells are then triggered and more dead cells are created in which more immune cells are needed and thus lead to more inflammation. Think of it as firemen being called out on a continuous basis to fight little fires all over your body, then when a big fire strikes (such as a virus, like Covid-19) the firemen are exhausted and don't have the energy or resources to fight of the virus. Keeping your immune system healthy allows your immune cells to kick in only when needed, instead of constantly. Daily intake of Sulforaphane (antioxidants) feed Free Radicals and excretes them through your body, keeping your immune system in top shape.
Broccoli Sprouts & Microgreens
contain up to 100x more of the sulforaphane precursor glucoraphanin than in mature broccoli!
What's the difference between Sprouts & Microgreens?
Back in the 90’s all the talk was around sprouts until suddenly when they were deemed a "potential food safety risk" they disappeared from our dinner plates. So what has replaced these crunchy nutrient dense gems? Enter Microgreens. Since the onslaught of cooking shows and home chefs emerging, so have these tasty little greens. So what’s the difference? A microgreen starts as a sprout, doesn’t it? Yes, it does, but purposely growing a microgreen is notably different. Read on…..
The best definition of the distinction is that sprouts grow primarily based on the nutrients that are contained within the seed, the water they grow in and what they get from light in the final stages. They typically grow in a closed environment with intense humidity and lack of direct sunlight which makes them a breeding ground for bacteria to take over. Growing sprouts is moderately labor intense as they must be rinsed and tended to multiple times a day to ensure they stay healthy. They germinate in about 3 to 5 days in optimum temperature - between 45 and 85 degrees Fahrenheit (7 - 29 degrees Celsius). Sprouts are best used in smoothies as they are not especially visually appealing as microgreens.
Microgreens, however, are grown like plants. After the initial sprouting stage they need to take in external nutrients through their roots, using hydroponics or traditional soil. Natural or artificial light and air circulating keeps the plant healthy through the growing stage which is typically 10 days to two weeks. Microgreens aren’t harvested until their first 2 - 4 “true” leaves appear, typically at about 1-3 inches high. Microgreens are trendy as they look more appealing on your dinner plate and in your sandwiches, wraps and salads. They also add a nice final touch to soups, stews, meat or egg dishes, pizza or stir fry’s.
Using our versatile Grow Trays you can harvest the plant in the sprout stage or continue growing them until they reach the microgreen stage. They will continue to grow for up 2 weeks in our natural Grow Pads.
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Scientific Studies & Health Benefits of Sulforaphane
In 1992, Dr. Paul Talalay, MD and colleagues at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine identified sulforaphane as the most potent natural inducer of Phase 2 detoxification enzymes. These enzymes eliminate many types of free radicals and environmental pollutants. In other words, it becomes a potent antioxidant in the body and helps to boost the body’s natural detoxification pathways and the effects have been shown to last for up to three days! These compounds and their mechanisms have been studied extensively and are supported by more than 1,700 scientific publications with new studies coming out annually.
SUMMARY: Eating a healthy ancestral diet (avoiding completely or limiting refined sugars, most grains and industrial seed oils) and regular consumption of cruciferous vegetables, especially broccoli, maintains optimum healthy function of your body and may ward off many health issues that affect nearly half of all Americans or those eating the typical Western Diet.
SFN exhibits minimal adverse effects. SFN has been assumed to be a mild Nrf2 inducer and used as a health supplement.
Common and chronic diseases associated with inflammation and oxidization of cells that SULFORAPHANE may benefit in are;
CANCERS Over the years, sulforaphane (SFN), found in cruciferous vegetables, has been shown to have chemopreventive activity in vitro and in vivo. SFN protects cells from environmental carcinogens and also induces growth arrest and/or apoptosis in various cancer cells. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6141106/
BREAST CANCER https://nutritionfacts.org/video/sulforaphane-from-broccoli-to-breast/
AUTISM Results of this study: To date, we have enrolled 46 participants in the study; 24 participants have completed the trial, and 22 are actively enrolled. A preliminary analysis of the OACIS-I showed that 26% participants were much/very much improved at 7 weeks, 38% at 15 weeks, 64% at 22 weeks, and 64% at 30 weeks. https://n.neurology.org/content/90/15_Supplement/N1.002
ALZHEIMERS Alzheimer’s disease has grown to be one of the most pressing and tragic public health issues facing the U.S. With the number of people affected expected to triple by 2050, the Alzheimer’s Association estimates that by midcentury someone in the U.S will develop Alzheimer’s disease every 33 seconds.26 It’s often said that Alzheimer’s cannot be prevented, but in addition to sulforaphane and other veggie compounds, key dietary changes may represent a crucial avenue of prevention when it comes to this disease. https://www.prohealth.com/library/sulforaphane-may-prevent-alzheimers-83615
CARDIOVASCULAR (HEART) DISEASE Isothiocyanates (ITC) are sulfur-containing compounds that are broadly distributed among cruciferous vegetables. Sulforaphane (SFN) is an ITC shown to possess anticancer activities by both in vivo and epidemiological studies. Recent data have indicated that the beneficial effects of SFN in CVD are due to its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. https://www.hindawi.com/journals/omcl/2015/407580/
ASTHMA Sulforaphane, a dietary antioxidant and antiinflammatory phytochemical derived from broccoli, may affect the pulmonary bronchoconstrictor responses to MCh and the responses to DI in asthmatic patients. https://www.medica-tradefair.com/en/News/Archive/Broccoli_May_Help_Against_Asthma
DIABETES Axelsson et al. analyzed the pattern of gene expression associated with type 2 diabetes and compared it to the gene signatures for thousands of drug candidates to find compounds that could counteract the effects of diabetes. The leading candidate from this analysis was sulforaphane, a natural compound found in broccoli and other vegetables. https://stm.sciencemag.org/content/9/394/eaah4477.full
AGING Upon oxidative stress and aging, Nrf2 (NFE2-related factor2) triggers antioxidant defense genes to defends against homeostatic failure. https://www.worldofmolecules.com/anti-aging-and-senolytics/sulforaphane-molecule.html
DEPRESSION More mice studies found that using the cruciferous veggie phytochemical was just as effective as antidepressants (think Prozac) and decreased stress hormones and social anxiety. https://amosinstitute.com/blog/sulforaphane-and-its-impact-on-depression/
BRAIN INJURY When sulforaphane is administered directly following a Traumatic Brain Injury, the lab results are startling. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/26281695_Sulforaphane_improves_cognitive_function_administered_following_traumatic_brain_injury
ARTHRITIS Aug. 28, 2013 -- A compound found in broccoli could help prevent or slow the progress of the most common form of arthritis https://www.webmd.com/osteoarthritis/news/20130828/broccoli-could-help-fight-arthritis
DIGESTION These data strongly suggest that SFN contributes to the protection of GI mucosa against oxidative injury induced by H. pylori or NSAIDs. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5759180/
