Press Release:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, May 5, 2008
Jim Licko, Webb PR, jlicko@pwpr.com, 303-796-8888

May 5, 2008 - Yet another study has been released exhibiting the cancer-preventative potential of broccoli sprouts as part of a healthy diet. Recently, researchers from Roswell Park Cancer Institute and Johns Hopkins School of Medicine published results in the journal Cancer Research showing that high concentrations of the long lasting antioxidant sulforaphane, from broccoli sprouts, greatly reduced the incidence of bladder cancer in laboratory animals.

This latest research adds to the list of more than 700 published studies examining the positive health effects of these functional foods, broccoli and broccoli sprouts. The scientific community worldwide continues to produce evidence that the natural antioxidants, sulforaphane and SGS, found in broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables, and in especially high levels in three-day-old broccoli sprouts, detoxify carcinogens and can help the body fight off and prevent cancer-forming agents. Broccoli sprouts have also been found to protect against other chronic diseases. In 1997 scientists found the highest concentrations of this antioxidant in carefully selected and grown broccoli sprouts. This led to the development of BroccoSprouts®, delicious fresh sprouts that have a concentration of the antioxidant SGS twenty times that of mature broccoli and have the potential to increase the body's ability to prevent cancer.

Sulforaphane, and its pre-cursor SGS, work as catalysts to boost Phase 2 enzymes in the body. These detoxification enzymes trigger long lasting antioxidant action for 72 hours. As a result, the indirect antioxidant activity of broccoli sprouts lasts significantly longer than that of direct antioxidants such as vitamins C, E and beta-carotene which last for only a few hours before they are eliminated from the body.

In the recent bladder cancer research, laboratory animals were given a chemical known to cause bladder cancer. A sub-group of the animals was fed broccoli sprout extract, while a control group was given nothing in addition to food. 95.8 percent of the control animals developed bladder cancer, while only 37.5 percent of the animals fed the highest level of broccoli sprout extract developed bladder cancer. Additional tests showed that high levels of sulforaphane were found in the tissue lining the animals' bladders, which is where most bladder cancer develops.

The bladder study comes just a few months after another promising study from scientists at Johns Hopkins showed the effectiveness in humans and animals of broccoli sprout extract containing sulforaphane in protecting the skin against damage from UV light, the primary cause of skin cancer. Broccoli sprout extract was applied to the skin, which was then exposed to ultraviolet (UV) rays. The amount of redness and inflammation caused by UV exposure was reduced on average by 37 percent. In contrast to traditional sunscreens, the study indicates sulforaphane actually boosted the skin's intrinsic detoxification systems to protect itself from damage from UV radiation, rather than just simply blocking or screening the effects of the sun. Most importantly, the study showed that although the protection may not begin immediately, the effect lasted for up to three days after application.

In March, a group of researchers from UCLA Medical School showed that giving broccoli sprouts compounds to old-aged mice protected their immune system and allowed them to function like younger mice. The UCLA team not only found that the direct administration of sulforaphane from broccoli reversed the decline in cellular immune function in old mice, but they witnessed similar results when they took individual immune cells from old mice, treated those cells with the compound outside the body and then placed the treated cells back into a recipient animal.

In particular, the scientists discovered that dendritic cells, which introduce infectious agents and foreign substances to the immune system, were particularly effective in restoring immune function in aged animals when treated with sulforaphane.

In separate articles, Newsweek and Yahoo.com recently named broccoli sprouts one of the top detox foods on the market.

Since the first findings on the cancer protective effects of sulforaphane were published in 1992, a groundswell of scientific work has shown that these compounds from broccoli and broccoli sprouts can play an important role in enhancing the body's own natural protection mechanism against chronic disease.

About Brassica Protection Products

Brassica Protection Products LLC is the exclusive worldwide licensee of the SGS {LOGO} technology from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Brassica offers BroccoSprouts®, broccoli sprouts which contain guaranteed levels of SGS, and Brassica® Teas, which contain an SGS extract, a proprietary extract of sulforaphane glucosinolate. For more information, visit www.broccosprouts.com or www.brassica.com.

Scientific References

Talalay, P., Fahey, J.W., Healy, Z.R., Wehage, S.L., Benedict, A.L., Min, C. and Dinkova-Kostova, A.T. Sulforaphane Mobilizes Cellular Defenses that Protect Skin against Damage by UV Radiation. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 104, 17500-17505 (2007).

Munday, R., Mhawech-Fauceglia, P., Munday, C.M., Paonessa, J.D., Tang, L., Munday, J.S., Lister, C., Wilson, P., Fahey, J.W., Davis, W. and Zhang, Y. Inhibition of urinary bladder carcinogenesis by broccoli sprouts. Cancer Res. 68(5), 1593-600 (2008).

Kim, H.-J., Barajas, B., Wang, M. and Nel, A.E. Nrf2 activation by sulforaphane restores the age-related decrease of TH1 immunity: Role of dendritic cells. The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology DOI: 10.1016/j.jaci.2008.01.016, published on line 6 March 2008