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Posted on Mar 22, 2017, 6 a.m.
Sulforaphane, a compound found in broccoli, cauliflower and other cruciferous vegetables, is shown to accelerate the production of brown adipose tissue, inducing augmentation of fat-burning.
Young sprouts of broccoli and cauliflower are especially rich in glucoraphanin, an organosulfur compound, which is transformed into sulforaphane when it is chewed and mixed with the enzyme myrosinase.
Other cruciferous vegetables which contain this compound are Brussels sprouts, cabbage, kale, bok choy, collards, broccoli raab, turnip, arugula, kohlrabi, radish, and watercress.
Sulforaphane is known to affect cancer prevention by activating a factor that regulates the cells' balance of oxidation-reduction and enhances the body's anti-oxidation ability and detoxication of chemical compounds which are taken into the body. When the balance of oxidation and reduction deteriorates due to obesity and hyper nutrition, that is related to the production or development of various diseases.
Researchers at Kanazawa University collaborated with researchers at Kagome Co., Ltd. They compared the body weight of mice who were fed high-fat food with sulforaphane and those fed with high-fat food with no sulforaphane.
It was found that the mice fed with sulforaphane had a weight gain rate that was 15% lower than the mice that were fed without sulforaphane. Also, there was 20% visceral fat reduction as well as reduction of augmentation of hepatic steatosis. Fatty liver is excessive amounts of triglycerides and other fats inside liver cells and the level of blood glucose.
The researchers additionally found that sulforaphane accelerates the production of brown adipose tissue, which induces augmentation of fat burning and energy consumption, which ameliorates obesity. They also found improved 'obese' gut bacterial flora which is caused by metabolic endotoxemia and a high-fat diet. An exotoxin can cause damage by destroying cells or disrupting normal cellular metabolism.
Brown fat, or brown adipose tissue (BAT), is found in most mammals. BAT is particularly abundant in hibernating mammals and newborns and is also metabolically active in adult humans, although its prevalence decreases as humans age. With a primary function of thermoregulation, brown fat supplies tissue with nutrients and oxygen and distributes produced heat throughout the body.
The two newly uncovered functions of sulforaphane by this current study are expected to contribute to the improvement of liver inflammation, adipose tissues, and insulin resistance as well as to the prevention of lifestyle diseases.
Through coming clinical studies, the use of sulforaphane as a supplementary product for ameliorating the gut's bacterial flora is highly expected, after evaluation of its effects toward obesity prevention, its effectiveness for insulin resistance and inflammation, and its safety.
Naoto Nagata, Liang Xu, Susumu Kohno, Yusuke Ushida, Yudai Aoki, Ryohei Umeda, Nobuo Fuke, Fen Zhuge, Yinhua Ni, Mayumi Nagashimada, Chiaki Takahashi, Hiroyuki Suganuma, Shuichi Kaneko, Tsuguhito Ota. Glucoraphanin Ameliorates Obesity and Insulin Resistance Through Adipose Tissue Browning and Reduction of Metabolic Endotoxemia in Mice. Diabetes, 2017; db160662 DOI: 10.2337/db16-0662
