Search Results (4)

Consumption of cruciferous vegetables, rich in the isothiocyanate glucoraphanin, is associated with reduced risk of tobacco-related cancers. Sulforaphane, released by hydrolysis of glucoraphanin, potently induces cytoprotective phase II enzymes. Sulforaphane decreased the incidence of oral cancer in the 4NQO carcinogenesis model. In residents of Qidong, China, broccoli seed and sprout extracts (BSSE) increased detoxification of air pollutants benzene and acrolein, also found in tobacco smoke. This randomized, crossover trial evaluated detoxification of tobacco carcinogens by the BSSE Avmacol^® in otherwise healthy smokers. Participants were treated for 2 weeks with both low and higher-dose BSSE (148 µmol vs. 296 µmol of glucoraphanin daily), separated by a 2-week washout, with randomization to low-high vs. high-low sequence. The primary endpoint was detoxification of benzene, measured by urinary excretion of its mercapturic acid, SPMA. Secondary endpoints included bioavailability, detoxification of acrolein and crotonaldehyde, modulation by GST genotype, and toxicity. Forty-nine participants enrolled, including 26 (53%) females with median use of 20 cigarettes/day. Low and higher-dose BSSE showed a mean bioavailability of 11% and 10%, respectively. Higher-dose BSSE significantly upregulated urinary excretion of the mercapturic acids of benzene (p = 0.04), acrolein (p < 0.01), and crotonaldehyde (p = 0.02), independent of GST genotype. Retention and compliance were high resulting in early study completion. In conclusion, BSSE significantly upregulated detoxification of the tobacco carcinogens benzene, acrolein, and crotonaldehyde in current tobacco smokers. Full article

The antioxidant and antidiabetic properties and metabolite profiling of ethanol extracts of red cabbage (RC) and broccoli (BR) seeds and sprouts were investigated in this study. The total phenolic, flavonoid, and saponin contents were in the ranges of 385.4–480.4 mg FAE/100 g, 206.9–215.6 mg CE/100 g, and 17.8–27.0 mg soysaponin BE/100 g, respectively. BR seed had the highest total phenolic (480.4 mg FAE/100 g) and flavonoid (216.9 mg CE/100 g) contents, whereas BR sprout had the highest saponin content (27.0 soysaponin BE/100g). RC sprout demonstrated the highest antioxidant capacity, with DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging activity levels of 71.5% and 88.5%, respectively. Furthermore, BR and RC sprouts showed the most potent inhibition against α-glucosidase (91.32% and 93.11%, respectively) and pancreatic lipase (60.19% and 61.66%, respectively). BR seed (60.37%) demonstrated the lowest AGE inhibition. A total of 24 metabolites, predominantly amino acids and phenolic compounds, were characterized using UHPLC-QTOF-MS/MS. Germination not only improved the levels of metabolites but also resulted in the synthesis of new compounds. Therefore, these findings show that germination effectively enhanced the functional properties and metabolite profiles of broccoli and red cabbage seeds, making their sprouts more applicable as functional ingredients. Full article

Herbal medicines are complementary and alternative medicine that is used not only in the treatment of cancer and cancer-related conditions, but also to improve the side effects of anticancer therapies. The use of so‐called alternative medicine has increased over the past 10 years, and the use of herbal preparations in clinical trials are growing. Complementary therapies are used by a large number of patients with cancer, particularly those with progressive disease or who have undergone multiple treatments. In 1998, spurred by rising interest in the use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) for cancer patients, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) created the Office of Cancer Complementary and Alternative Medicine (OCCAM) and has supported OCCAM with more than $100 million annually since 2005. In the clinical trials official website there are 540 studies were found to be held by extracts whereas 78 studies were found to be held by CAM and 49 studies with marine products by December 2019. The green tea, grape seed, pomegranate, wheat germ, ginger, ginseng root, broccoli sprout, green coffee, Red Reishi, Iscador Q, mistletoe were the most common herbal extracts used in Randomized Clinical Trials (RCT). Curcumin, resveratrol, epigallocathechin gallate, osthole, fiscetin are the samples which are the most common used natural products in RCTs in several cancer types. Prostate, colorectal, breast, lung, head and neck cancers were the most common cancer types where these CAM and natural products were used in RCTs. Increasingly, many researchers have focused their efforts on the potential use of CAMs and natural products and have reevaluated earlier epidemiologic data and initiated clinical trials to determine their potential efficacy as cancer therapy however the pharmacokinetic parameters of these products still need to be widely evaluated by identifying more clinical evidence to be able to use in patients. Full article

We examined whether gastric acidity would affect the activity of myrosinase, co-delivered with glucoraphanin (GR), to convert GR to sulforaphane (SF). A broccoli seed and sprout extract (BSE) rich in GR and active myrosinase was delivered before and after participants began taking the anti-acid omeprazole, a potent proton pump inhibitor. Gastric acidity appears to attenuate GR bioavailability, as evidenced by more SF and its metabolites being excreted after participants started taking omeprazole. Enteric coating enhanced conversion of GR to SF, perhaps by sparing myrosinase from the acidity of the stomach. There were negligible effects of age, sex, ethnicity, BMI, vegetable consumption, and bowel movement frequency and quality. Greater body mass correlated with reduced conversion efficiency. Changes in the expression of 20 genes in peripheral blood mononuclear cells were evaluated as possible pharmacodynamic indicators. When grouped by their primary functions based on a priori knowledge, expression of genes associated with inflammation decreased non-significantly, and those genes associated with cytoprotection, detoxification and antioxidant functions increased significantly with bioavailability. Using principal components analysis, component loadings of the changes in gene expression confirmed these groupings in a sensitivity analysis. Full article