Have you eaten your greens today?
You should have listened to your mother when she told you to eat the vegetables on your plate – especially the green ones. New research has found the key to beating Alzheimer’s and other degenerative diseases could lie in broccoli.
You should have listened to your mother when she told you to eat the vegetables on your plate – especially the green ones.
New research has found the key to beating Alzheimer’s and other degenerative diseases could lie in broccoli.
Researchers at the Dundee University in Scotland found sulforaphane, a chemical derived from broccoli, can help sharpen the brain in old age.
It is hoped a drug based on sulforaphane, and also found in rocket, brussels sprouts and cabbages, could help kick-start the body’s own protective or antioxidant mechanisms which protect vital brain cells from being attacked and destroyed by free radicals.
Antioxidants such as vitamin C and E can “mop up” the attackers, but have limited use in the brain, the researchers said.
They believe taking sulforaphane in pill form is likely to be more beneficial than eating large quantities of broccoli because each person does not produce the same amount of sulforaphane. A person can eat the same amount of greens as another, but there is the possibility of producing 10 times less sulforaphane than others.
The study’s author, Dr John Sharkey, said for some people, eating large quantities of broccoli could have the biological effects experts are looking for.
In a two-year study, Dr Sharkey plans to see whether the chemical slows or halts the progression of Alzheimer’s in mice that are genetically engineered to develop the disease.
The preliminary nature of the work means that even if it is successful, any sulforaphane-based drug is at least a decade from the market.
“Research is the only answer to dementia and we hope our work will open up new areas of research that could be vital in defeating Alzheimer’s disease,” Dr Sharkey said.
