“Broccoli may undo diabetes damage”

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First the good news:

Eating broccoli could reverse the damage caused by diabetes to heart blood vessels, research suggests.

A University of Warwick team believe the key is a compound found in the vegetable, called sulforaphane.

…

Lead researcher Professor Paul Thornalley said: “Our study suggests that compounds such as sulforaphane from broccoli may help counter processes linked to the development of vascular disease in diabetes…”

Now the bad news: It’s broccoli.

17 thoughts on ““Broccoli may undo diabetes damage””

  3. Well, you can’t have your cake and eat it too

    You know, if I didn’t like cake so much, I wouldn’t need broccoli in the first place.

    I’m not naming names but some people like broccoli.

    I know. My mother told me all about them when she fed me the stuff. I am pretty sure they could hold a convention in a phone booth, with room to spare, though. :)

  7. Dr Iain Frame, director of research at the charity Diabetes UK, stressed that research carried out on cells in the lab was a long way from the real life situation.

    These things rarely pan out. Testing isolated reactions in a lab usually tells us very little about the real world consequences of eating the source of the active compound. Getting significant improvements in a real human body usually would require eating impractical amounts of the food.

    Most plants foods are also full of natural toxins whose negative effects can can offset the benefits if you eat enough of them. Plants don’t want to be eaten and try to protect themselves with poisons. We have bred domestics plants to lower the toxins to acceptable levels but they are still present.

    This is not to say that you should not eat your vegetables but rather to warn against concentrated them in the hope of getting the beneficial chemicals.

  9. I love broccoli.

    Alright, that’s enough broccoli lovers in this thread to fill a phone booth. Future applicants will have to be turned away.

    These things rarely pan out. Testing isolated reactions in a lab usually tells us very little about the real world consequences of eating the source of the active compound. Getting significant improvements in a real human body usually would require eating impractical amounts of the food.

    Thank you, Shannon. Exactly what I wanted to hear :)

  12. I’ll squeeze into the phone booth with the other broccoli fans. Good stuff, that broccoli.

    Brussel sprouts, on the other hand, should be confined to Brussels or, better yet, one well guarded garbage dump in Brussels.

    These “brassica vegetables” – some of which you’re bound to love and others to hate – are interesting. Google ’em.

    Alas, the strudel days are all but over… aging sucks (yes, I know, it beats heck out of the alternative). Nowadays I am limited to glancing at them longingly.

  13. Good stuff, that broccoli.

    As an acquired taste, or right from ther start?

    Brussels sprouts should go straight to the compost heap.

    I had googled different vegetables for an as yet not written post, concerning alkaloids, natural toxins and so on. This stuff is worse than GM food can ever hope to be

  14. I guess I’m in the minority as a broccoli lover. If you put brussel sprouts in Miso soup, the taste really good :)

  15. The fifth person in the phone booth now. Anybody wanting to make a call’ll have to step outside and use a cell phone.

    I am not sure that this makes Miso soup more appealing, but I might just try it.

  16. A roasted tenderloin of venison with boletus sauce, german Spaetzle, some glazed marronis, steamed half of an apple filled with cranberries, and brussels sprouts! and of course a glass of Barolo 1998
    I love autumn.

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