Benefits Of Broccoli For Asthma Patients

By Margarita Nahapetyan

Scientists from University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) report that a naturally occurring compound found in broccoli and especially broccoli sprouts, may protect against inflammation of the respiratory tract that is linked to the diseases like asthma, allergic rhinitis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

The new research shows that sulforaphane, a chemical in broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables, including Brussels sprouts, cabbage, kale and bok koy, increases antioxidant enzymes in the human air way, which, in turn, offer protection against the free radicals. Free radicals, a supercharged form of oxygen, cause damage to cells and tissues of the human body. There are plenty of them in the polluted air we breathe on a daily basis, in the smoke coming from tobacco products as well as pollen and diesel exhaust. Broccoli sprouts, the immature version of the well-known vegetable, are the richest natural source of sulforaphane. Depending on the source, broccoli sprouts can contain 50 times or more sulforaphane, compared to mature broccoli.

For their new study, a team of scientists involved 65 volunteers and asked them to take varying amounts of either broccoli or alfalfa sprouts preparations for three days. The alfalfa sprouts do not contain sulforaphane, and therefore they were served as a placebo. Rinses of nasal passages were collected from all participants at the beginning and at the end of the experiment in order to determine the gene expression of antioxidant enzymes in cells of the upper airways.

Three days later, the experts found that people who consumed the broccoli sprouts doses of 100 grams and more, had significant increases of antioxidant enzymes in their nasal airway cells, in comparison with the placebo group. And the maximum broccoli sprout dosage of 200 grams generated more than a 100 per cent increase of an antioxidant enzyme called GSTP1 and nearly 200 per cent increase of another key enzyme called NQO1.

The new study is not the first to show the health benefits of broccoli sprouts. A lot of research that has been done over the past decade, has found the evidence that sulforaphane has potential anti-cancer benefits. According to Marc Reidl, the study's lead author and an assistant professor of clinical immunology and allergy at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, their findings are one of the first to show that such at-hand available vegetable like broccoli sprouts can offer its natural help for protection against inflammatory conditions as well.

According to the authors, their experiment did not reveal any serious side effects in study participants who were given broccoli sprouts. This all seems like a good evidence that broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables may be used as an effective and safe antioxidant strategy in order to reduce the inflammatory damage caused by free radicals.

However, Dr. Reidl said that yet more investigation and research is needed to be done to examine all the benefits of sulforaphane for certain respiratory conditions. At this point scientists do not rush to recommend any specific and exact dosage, but they strongly recommend to include broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables as part of any healthy diet.

A new study is published in the March edition of the journal Clinical Immunology.