Sure, no one will test you on your antioxidant knowledge. Who's going to remember these funny names anyway? It sure helps to know where they're found and what role they play, though. Learning about the antioxidant glucoraphanin may be just the motivation you need to throw a handful of young broccoli sprouts or broccoli heads into your next salad, omelette, or soup.
Meet gluocraphanin, also known as 4-methylsulfinylbutyl glucosinolate. This compound is found in broccoli and broccoli sprouts. Glucoraphanin is further converted into a cancer-protective, sulfur-containing compound known as sulforaphane.
Sulforaphane is found to be an impressively promising agent against cancers of the skin, lung, breasts, prostate, colon, stomach, and bladder. It has also shown to be effective against cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and neurodegenerative diseases.
It is to protect this important antioxidant (glucoraphanin) that the broccoli you buy at the market is packed into tight, air and atmosphere-controlled packaging. When kept in open boxes, broccoli heads lost more than 50% of their glucoraphanin antioxidant content in just 3 days after being harvested. 2 So, what is so important about glucoraphanin, anyway?
Power Up Your Metabolism
For one thing, glucoraphanin retunes metabolism. This is especially helpful as we age. Metabolism tends to slow down, lose balance, and go out of whack as we age, in many cases due to the accumulation of oxidative stress. This makes the body less efficient at producing energy, metabolizing nutrients, and maintaining health.
In other words, glucoraphanin makes a great ingredient for a whole foods energy drink.
Detoxify your Body
Glucoraphanin converts into one of your body's most powerful detoxifiying agents. It can protect cells against carcinogens, toxins that damage DNA, and even an unhealthy, high-calorie diet. That is not to say anyone can now use broccoli to clean up the mess of an unbalanced diet and expect to be healthy, though. It will do its part, though, in suppressing inflammation and stimulating detoxifying enzymes. As little as 5 ounces of broccoli each day will give you a healthy dose of this most fascinating phytochemical.
References
1. Semin Oncol. 2016 Feb;43(1):146-53.
2. J Agric Food Chem. 2002 Dec 4;50(25):7386-91.
3. Am J Clin Nutr. 2013 Sep; 98(3): 712–722.
4. World J Gastroenterol. 2015 Nov 21; 21(43): 12457–12467.
5. Molecular Nutrition & Food Research Volume 55, Issue 7, Version of Record online: 4 MAR 2011