Liver Toxicity Due to Broccoli Juice?

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6,000 cups of broccoli a year is probably too much.

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Targeting cancer stem cells and protecting DNA doesn’t even scratch the surface of what broccoli and broccoli sprouts appear capable of. Here’s a sampling published just in one random month: anticarcinogenic; anti-inflammatory; another anti-inflammatory; may protect against colorectal cancer; help fight cervical cancer; may protect against sunburn, for goodness sake; and protect cartilage. And that’s just one month in the medical journals.

What’s the catch? There has to be a downside.

Well, in Turkey, recently, a report of liver toxicity, thought due to juiced broccoli. 56-year-old woman, drinking about three and a half cups of pure broccoli juice a day, for a month.

A commentator balked at the assumption that that the broccoli juice per se was responsible for liver toxicity, suggesting that a more likely possibility is that the pesticide residue levels in such a large daily quantity of the vegetable were such that they adversely affected her liver cells.

Three and a half cups of juice is equivalent to eating about 18 cups of broccoli a day. 18 cups a day for four weeks; that’s 500 cups of broccoli. Even if it were organic broccoli, 500 cups a month is a lot of broccoli.

This was just a case report. Thankfully, formal human toxicity studies have been done. Here, for example, they gave some volunteers a week of broccoli sprout extract, equaling the sulforaphane content of about two dozen cups of broccoli a day, and no problems were found.

To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by veganmontreal.

Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.

Image thanks to joannaverdan / flickr

Targeting cancer stem cells and protecting DNA doesn’t even scratch the surface of what broccoli and broccoli sprouts appear capable of. Here’s a sampling published just in one random month: anticarcinogenic; anti-inflammatory; another anti-inflammatory; may protect against colorectal cancer; help fight cervical cancer; may protect against sunburn, for goodness sake; and protect cartilage. And that’s just one month in the medical journals.

What’s the catch? There has to be a downside.

Well, in Turkey, recently, a report of liver toxicity, thought due to juiced broccoli. 56-year-old woman, drinking about three and a half cups of pure broccoli juice a day, for a month.

A commentator balked at the assumption that that the broccoli juice per se was responsible for liver toxicity, suggesting that a more likely possibility is that the pesticide residue levels in such a large daily quantity of the vegetable were such that they adversely affected her liver cells.

Three and a half cups of juice is equivalent to eating about 18 cups of broccoli a day. 18 cups a day for four weeks; that’s 500 cups of broccoli. Even if it were organic broccoli, 500 cups a month is a lot of broccoli.

This was just a case report. Thankfully, formal human toxicity studies have been done. Here, for example, they gave some volunteers a week of broccoli sprout extract, equaling the sulforaphane content of about two dozen cups of broccoli a day, and no problems were found.

To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by veganmontreal.

Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.

Image thanks to joannaverdan / flickr

Doctor's Note

There’s also the issue of the goitrogenic compounds in raw cruciferous. See my video, Overdosing on Greens. We can also eat too much of the seaweed kelp (see Too Much Iodine Can Be as Bad as Too Little); and overdo coffee when pregnant (see Caffeine During Pregnancy). 

For more context, check out my associated blog posts: The Best Detox, and Broccoli Boosts Liver Detox Enzymes.

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