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This study shows some pretty interesting things in terms of a dramatic ability to (apparently) decrease lead status in the blood and seems to also really improve memory performance and reduce oxidative stress (from the lead) in the brain. It’s really pretty impressive, especially in light of the fact that, according to this paper, the neurotoxic effects are associated with amyloid beta production. This makes it plausibly relevant in the context of Alzheimer’s.

FTA:

“Compared with the normal saline and [corn oil-treated] groups, the lead level in the blood of sulforaphane and SFN + Vitamin E group had a significant decrease. In water maze test, the mice treated with sulforaphane or/and Vitamin E performed better than mice of the normal saline and corn oil groups. In addition, a remarkable decrease in MDA (malondialdehyde) level was found in mice treated with sulforaphane or/and vitamin E than those in normal saline and corn oil groups.”

Not stated explicitly so far as I could tell in the article, but the figure 2 makes it look like lead content in the blood is reduced by almost 2/3rds. According to figure 6, MDA in the hippocampus, a marker for oxidative status, rises by approximately half of what the lead-exposed non-SFN group did (normal saline). In other words: more oxidative stress than control in the hippocampus, but not as much as lead without sulforaphane. It’s almost like they got half the lead exposure, if the dose-response was linear. Similarly, actual memory function was dramatically improved (measured by maze task) relative to non-sulforaphane group… but still lagged control by a little bit.

Altogether interesting study!

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