Prevention over cure is a lifestyle choice we can no longer ignore!

Your path to better health

We must make the decision to feed our bodies with the correct nutrients that not only enhance our physical health and well-being, but also improve the quality of our everyday lives! A healthy diet and regular exercise are the keys to good health and easy words to be thrown about. However, there is one compound that is worth its weight in gold and that is: Sulforaphane. Including the Isothyocinate Sulforaphane molecule in your daily diet is a critical foundation step on your path to better health.

We have all heard the saying: "An ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure." Sulforaphane materializes these words like none other!

The Molecule Discovery

It was first discovered in 1992 at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine that fresh young whole broccoli sprouts yielded incredibly high levels of the known protective Glucoraphanin compound and the Myrosinase enzyme.

This same team then discovered, that when the Glucoraphanin compound and the Myrosinase enzyme were combined in the presence of moisture, the Glucoraphanin compound was converted to Sulforaphane by the action of the Myrosinase enzyme.

Their studies further showed that Sulforaphane activates the 'Nrf2 switch’ within human cells and that this 'switch' increases the production of the cell’s own potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory compounds. These protective compounds are all part of the cell's own defense system, of which many are enzymes. This is Nature's way of preventing and treating disease.

As antioxidants, these enzymes are far more powerful than the vitamins, A, E, C and beta-carotene. There have been many research studies since, investigating the action, effect and benefit of sulforaphane.

What does it do?

Sulforaphane is a small molecule that is easily absorbed by human cells. Once inside the cells, it acts as a ‘signaling molecule’, sending messages to other parts of the cell. One of sulforaphane’s most important functions is that it supports the activation of the ‘Nrf2 switch’ within the human cell.

This ‘Nrf2 switch’ (a special protein known as Nrf2) releases a small fragment which then travels into the nucleus, that part of the cell in which the genes are housed. Once inside the nucleus, it lines up beside the genes of the cell’s internal defense activities. In some cases, the DNA in sections of these genes can be completely ‘switched off’; in other cases, the genes may be just ‘lazy’ or ‘sleepy’. As we get older or as our health declines, the activity of these genes declines. In any case, Sulforaphane is capable of modifying gene expression so that it behaves in a way that more closely resembles normal activity.

Is Sulforaphane Found in Broccoli?

In fact, there is no sulforaphane found in broccoli or any other cruciferous vegetable. The highest source of sulforaphane is not the broccoli vegetable itself; it’s actually fresh young whole broccoli sprouts, which can generate around 100 times more sulforaphane than much larger portions of the mature vegetable.

The whole broccoli sprout plant stores the essential bioactive compounds in separate sacs within each cell. When the sacs are broken (chewed), the glucoraphanin compound comes into contact with the myrosinase enzyme in a moist environment and Sulforaphane is produced.

Sulforaphane is not stable for longer than 20 minutes, so it must be consumed immediately in-order to get its remarkable benefit.

Sulforaphane activates the cell’s Detoxification Enzymes.

What does this mean?

All cells produce waste materials because of their ordinary day-to-day activities. These waste products will poison the cell if the cell doesn’t detoxify and eliminate them. Many of these waste products must be neutralized before they can be eliminated from the body. If these toxins remain uncontrolled, cell damage is likely to lead to eventual disease.

Of course, there are many potentially-toxic compounds that we are exposed to in the form of pesticide residues in food and water and pollutants in the air. The detoxification enzymes are Nature’s way of dealing with these toxins. These are a family of enzymes all specifically targeted at modifying the chemical structure of toxic molecules so that they can no longer damage human cell structures. Research over the past 15 years has shown that the most powerful known natural substance capable of ‘switching on’ or ‘up regulating’ these detoxification enzymes is Sulforaphane.

This fact, coupled with its ability to enhance the cell’s antioxidant and anti-inflammatory processes, means that sulforaphane is one of the most dynamic compounds available - and one that we can use to enhance the defense mechanisms of human cells. To date, scientists have discovered that there are many hundreds of genes in the human cell’s defense system known to be directly influenced by sulforaphane.