Broccoli May Reduce Cell Damage From Diabetes
Secondary Heart Disease Risk May Be Lowered In Diabetic Patients
Sep 24, 2008
This latest research builds on other work that has shown broccoli to help reduce breast and prostate cancer risks, boost the immune system and protect the heart from the oxygen deprivation damage that occurs when blood clots block the coronary artery.
How Diabetes Increases the Risk of Heart Disease
When blood sugar levels rise too high (hyperglycemia), Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) levels rise, sometimes to three times the normal level. Reactive Oxygen Species damage blood vessels. And that vascular damage is what causes many of the complications seen in diabetes, including stroke, heart disease, blindness, kidney failure and loss of circulation to the extremities, which often leads to limb amputation.
The Role of Sulforaphene in Diabetes Management
The compound found in broccoli, sulforaphane, was tested by Dr Paul Thornalley and staff at the Clinical Sciences Research Institute at the University of Warwick, and found to activate a protein nrf2 (NF-E2-related factor-2), which in turn spurred production of antioxidants and detoxifying enzymes.
This protein had already been shown to lower the risk of stroke and heart disease for some patients. But critical to this study was the role that sulforaphane plays when there are hyperglycemic conditions in the heart’s blood vessels. Sulforaphene lowered absolute numbers of ROS molecules and reversed the increase in ROS molecules that usually occurs in a hyperglycemic event.
Because this work has only been carried out at the cellular level, it is too early to state absolutely that eating vegetables from the brassica family will prevent cellular damage to the circulatory system in diabetic patients but it is part of a growing body of information showing the value of specific vegetables in preventing certain health problems from developing or worsening.
The Rest of the Brassica Family
For those who would like the benefits of sulforaphene in some form other than broccoli, the other members of the brassica family include:
Cauliflower, broccoflower, Brussel sprouts bok choy, cabbage, Napa (Chinese) cabbage,
mustard greens, mustard seeds, kale, rapini, daikon, rutabaga, turnips and kohlrabi.
As these vegetables have already shown their value in lowering the risk of breast and prostate cancer, enhancing the immune system and reducing damage to the heart caused by blood clots regular inclusion in the diet is simply a matter of common sense.
Buying locally grown, organic vegetables will decrease the risk that these vegetables may be low in some critical trace minerals also known to play a role in the development of Type 2 diabetes.
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