Broccoli Sprouts Promote Sex-Dependent Cardiometabolic Health and Longevity in Long-Evans Rats
Ronan M N Noble et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022.
Abstract
Antioxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds are potential candidates to prevent age-related chronic diseases. Broccoli sprouts (BrSp) are a rich source of sulforaphane-a bioactive metabolite known for its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. We tested the effect of chronic BrSp feeding on age-related decline in cardiometabolic health and lifespan in rats. Male and female Long-Evans rats were fed a control diet with or without dried BrSp (300 mg/kg body weight, 3 times per week) from 4 months of age until death. Body weight, body composition, blood pressure, heart function, and glucose and insulin tolerance were measured at 10, 16, 20, and 22 months of age. Behavioral traits were also examined at 18 months of age. BrSp feeding prolonged life span in females, whereas in males the positive effects on longevity were more pronounced in a subgroup of males (last 25% of survivors). Despite having modest effects on behavior, BrSp profoundly affected cardiometabolic parameters in a sex-dependent manner. BrSp-fed females had a lower body weight and visceral adiposity while BrSp-fed males exhibited improved glucose tolerance and reduced blood pressure when compared to their control counterparts. These findings highlight the sex-dependent benefits of BrSp on improving longevity and delaying cardiometabolic decline associated with aging in rats.
After watching Rhonda Patrick’s videos a few years ago, I’ve been having 100-160g of broccoli sprouts on most days. I enjoy growing them, and use 3 tablespoons of seeds in each of 4 wide mouth mason jars at a time. As soon as one batch is mature, I have finished eating the previous batch, so I am almost continuously growing sprouts.
The taste is much better when mixed with other veggies, and, crucially, vinegar or lime juice to offset some of the bitterness. Don’t forget the dry mustard to help release the healthful chemicals from the sprouts.
Berries such as strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, blackcurrant, redcurrant and raspberries are a rich source of anthocyanins, with levels ranging from about 100 to about 700 mg/100 g of fresh product [10,72,73], but the highest content is found in elderberries and chokeberries, which can contain up to 1,4-1,8 g of anthocyanins per 100 g of product [10,72]. Other good sources of anthocyanins include purple corn, cherries, plums, pomegranate, eggplant, wine, grapes, and red/purple vegetables such as black carrots, red cabbage and purple cauliflower which may contain from a few milligrams up to 200–300 mg/100 g of product [72,73]. More recently, anthocyanins have been identified in numerous berries whose production and consumption is steadily increasing, such as maqui [74,75], myrtle [76,77], and açai [78,79,80].
Anthocyanins also provide cardiovascular benefits.
Speaking of anthocyanins, I’m having a hard time finding a good source about just how much is in over-the-counter Black Elderberry pills. It’s like one of the most important ingredients of those pills, but almost nobody says how much they have in them (there are like only maybe 1 or 2 brands out of dozens that do). I even tried to use GPT-5-thinking and Perplexity to help track it down, to no avail. For all I know, some of the “concentrated extract” pills could have like 20 mg of anthocyanins, or even as high as 200 mg. There’s a big difference in the effect between those two figures!
The extracts I’ve checked out all show equivalent amounts of elderberry, as contents, not anthocyanins. So I don’t bother with extracts. I bought elderberry powder instead. If I remember correctly, it came from Poland. I mix two grams of it with the hibiscus tea, with green tea, and five grams of glycine.
You can also try aronia (chokeberry) powder, also high in anthocyanins. You can try blue corn popcorn, from the Amish.
