The Best Detox

There’s lots of talk these days about detoxing, but talk is cheap. Our liver is actually doing it, all day, every day. And if we want to detoxify, the best thing we can do is boost our liver’s own detoxifying enzymes. And sulforaphane is the most potent natural phase 2 enzyme inducer known. That’s one of our liver’s detoxication systems.

So where do we find this stuff? Broccoli, which produces more than any other known plant in the world.

In micromoles per gram seed, fresh weight broccoli’s number one, then kohlrabi, and cauliflower gets the bronze. It’s interesting; broccoli raab, which is all gourmet, expensive—is it worth the extra price? No. Broccoli raab produces about 500 times less than broccoli.

Broccoli is an exceptional source of sulforaphane, but at the same time, there’s none actually in the vegetable—until you bite it.

You know those chemical flares, or glow sticks, where you snap them and two chemicals in two different departments mix, and set off a reaction? Broccoli does the same thing. In one part of the cell, it keeps an enzyme, called myrosinase, and in another part, it keeps something called glucoraphanin. There is no sulforaphane, which is what we want, anywhere in the broccoli—until some herbivore starts chewing on the poor thing.

Cells get crushed, the enzyme mixes with the glucoraphanin, which is a type of glucosinolate, and sulforaphane is born. And the herbivore is like, “Ew, this tastes like broccoli,” and runs away. The plant uses it as a defense against nibblers and noshers. Little did broccoli count on a little lemon juice and some garlic, maybe a little tahini dressing. It’s our counterattack.

Just make sure to chew; otherwise you won’t get as much of that magical mixture. In this study, they had people just swallow broccoli sprouts whole, day one, and got some action. Obviously, their stomach stepped in, and did a little churning. But on day three, when they actually got to chew their sprouts, you can see significantly more got absorbed into their bodies.

Chew it or lose it.

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.

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• Shapiro TA, Fahey JW, Wade KL, Stephenson KK, Talalay P. Chemoprotective Glucosinolates and Isothiocyanates of Broccoli Sprouts: Metabolism and Excretion in Humans. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2001 May;10(5):501-8.
• Nestle M. Broccoli sprouts as inducers of carcinogen-detoxifying enzyme systems: Clinical, dietary, and policy implications. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1997 Oct 14;94(21):11149-51.
• West LG, Meyer KA, Balch BA, Rossi FJ, Schultz MR, Haas GW. Glucoraphanin and 4-hydroxyglucobrassicin contents in seeds of 59 cultivars of broccoli, raab, kohlrabi, radish, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, kale, and cabbage. J Agric Food Chem. 2004 Feb 25;52(4):916-26.
• Ishita Ahuja, Jens Rohloff, and Atle Magnar Bones. Defence mechanisms of Brassicaceae: implications for plant-insect interactions and potential for integrated pest management. A review. Agron. Sustain. Dev. 2010 30(2):311-48.

Images thanks to Fir0002 and Jawahar Swaminathan via Wikimedia Commons, and Bruce Wylde and Spencer.

• broccoli
• broccoli sprouts
• cauliflower
• cruciferous vegetables
• detoxification
• enzymes
• liver health
• phytonutrients
• raw food
• sprouts
• sulforaphane
• vegetables