There is some sad news for everyone who hates broccoli. It appears that the green vegetable is even healthier than we believed after a new study revealed that broccoli might help you gut be healthier.
Improving gastrointestinal health
“There are a lot of reasons we want to explore helping with gastrointestinal health and one reason is if you have problems, like a leaky gut, and start to suffer inflammation, that may then lead to other conditions, like arthritis and heart disease,” declared Gary Perdew, the John T. and Paige S. Smith Professor in Agricultural Sciences, Penn State.
The study used mice for research. Some of them had broccoli in their regular diet, while others did not. The results revealed that the mice who were eating broccoli had fewer gut problems like symptoms of leaky gut and colitis.
“Keeping your gut healthy and making sure you have good barrier functions so you’re not getting this leaky effect would be really big,” added Perdew.
The chemical compound that helps your digestive system
There is a receptor in the gut called Aryl hydrocarbon receptor, or AHR that is activated by compounds found in an organic chemical compound called indole glucosinolates. This compound is contained by broccoli and other similar vegetables such as brussels sprouts and cabbage. This helps you digestive flow and reduces digestive problems.
It also appears the broccoli may help to avoid hyper-activating the AHR:
“Dioxin, for example, activates this receptor, and if you hyper-activate it with dioxin, it will cause toxicity. What we were interested in is: Could you locally activate the receptor naturally at a level that would cause only modest AHR activation in the gut, but not cause systemic activation, which could possibly lead to negative effects?” Perdew declared.
