June 16, 2014

Broccoli Sprout Beverage Enhances Detoxification of Air Pollutants in Clinical Trial in China




FINDINGS COULD PAVE WAY FOR INEXPENSIVE FOOD-BASED PREVENTIVE STRATEGIES

A clinical trial involving nearly 300 Chinese men and women residing in one of China’s most polluted regions found that daily consumption of a half cup of broccoli sprout beverage produced rapid, significant and sustained higher levels of excretion of benzene, a known human carcinogen, and acrolein, a lung irritant. Researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, working with colleagues at several U.S. and Chinese institutions, used the broccoli sprout beverage to provide sulforaphane, a plant compound already demonstrated to have cancer preventive properties in animal studies. The study was published in the June 9 online edition of the journal Cancer Prevention Research.