Dr Mercola Dr Mercola Fermented Broccoli Sprouts | 30 Capsules

Fresh broccoli and broccoli sprouts are two of the healthiest foods you can eat as they contain high concentrations of a broad category of compounds called glucosinolates.

Two of these compounds, glucoraphanin and sulforaphane, have become the focus of over 650 scientific publications.

Sulforaphane, identified in 1992, is now considered the leading compound in broccoli sprouts and broccoli, and is responsible for many of the potential benefits:

• Promotes cell health throughout your body
• Assists your body’s detoxification processes
• Helps protect cells, tissues and DNA from free radical oxidative damage
• Helps maintain healthy normal cholesterol levels
• Supports gut health and a healthy gut microbial balance
• Helps keep healthy joint cartilage and supports comfortable movement
• Supports bladder health
• Supports prostate health

First off, you need to eat about two pounds of broccoli a week to get significant amounts of sulforaphane.

It’s easier with fresh broccoli sprouts. They are far more nutrient-dense than whole broccoli. After three days of sprouting, broccoli sprouts contain 10 to 100 times the amount of precursor glucoraphanin.

Another potential pitfall with regular broccoli is that typical handling and preparation can destroy many of the fragile beneficial nutrients.

If any of broccoli’s key compounds are destroyed or becomes inactivated, you can lose out on many valuable potential benefits.

Here are some ways you can miss out with regular broccoli:

• Broccoli can lose 80 percent of its precursor glucoraphanin just 10 days after harvest
• Broccoli cut into florets loses its precursors twice as fast as whole-head broccoli
• Steaming broccoli longer than five minutes can destroy its myrosinase
• Boiling or microwaving broccoli longer than 30 to 60 seconds destroys most of its myrosinase
• High-temperature blanching and subsequent freezing may destroy broccoli’s myrosinase

Sulforaphane - The Key Compound

In order to obtain sulforaphane, a compound found in cruciferous vegetables like broccoli called glucoraphanin must first be transformed by the enzyme myrosinase. Myrosinase is essential for the conversion of glucoraphanin to sulforaphane.

Common food handling practices and cooking destroys the enzyme myrosinase in broccoli. Yet the conversion to sulforaphane can still occur in the absence of myrosinase if you have healthy gut flora. Many individuals have less-than-optimal gut flora, so that can impact their potential benefits, if they receive any, from broccoli and other cruciferous foods.

Fermenting the broccoli in advance as with this Fermented Broccoli Sprouts product converts the glucoraphanin to sulforaphane, so you don’t need to depend on your gut microbes to accomplish the task. In essence, fermentation does exactly what a healthy gut would do – provide your body with bioavailable sulforaphane.

Fermented Broccoli Sprouts product contains both fermented organic broccoli sprout powder and activated organic broccoli whole plant powder. With the whole plant powder, you receive standardised levels of broccoli’s most important compounds to help you maximise broccoli’s many potential health benefits:

• Sulforaphane - 140 mcg
• Glucoraphanin - 350 mcg
• Myrosinase - 105 mcg