Health & Fitness

U.S. federal law prohibits the use “official resources,” such as federal funds or one’s job title, for private gain, be it your own gain or someone you know. A recent investigation has unveiled evidence showing Dennis Carroll, former director of the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Pandemic Threat Program, may have done just that. As reported by investigative journalist Paul Thacker:¹

“While at USAID, Dennis Carroll oversaw a federal program called PREDICT, from which funds were used to launch another organization called the Global Virome Project. After leaving USAID, Carroll then became chair of the Global Virome Project’s board.

‘It would appear that Dennis Carroll violated federal law that prohibits the use of official resources for private gain or for that of persons or organizations with which he is associated personally,’ Craig Holman of Public Citizen said when shown emails² made public by the nonprofit US Right to Know.

‘Official resources — including government means of communications, government-funded travel or even the use of one’s official title — may not be used to promote private interests, such as the Global Virome Project.’”

U.S. Right to Know (USRTK) obtained the incriminating documents³ through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. According to USRTK,⁴ it appears Carroll first designed the PREDICT program as a proof of concept for the Global Virome Project, and while he was receiving six-figure paychecks ($166,500 in 2019) from the USAID, he then founded, promoted and raised funds for the Global Virome Project, in some instances using USAID funding to do so.

Goals of the PREDICT Program and Global Virus Project

The USAID PREDICT program involved identifying viruses with pandemic potential. Contractors funded through this program have included the EcoHealth Alliance, headed by Peter Daszak who, incidentally, in the last year has also gotten into hot water over potential violations of law.

According to Thacker, in early March 2022, Congressional members sent a letter to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), asking the agency to investigate EcoHealth for potential “contract irregularities and anonymous private donations, in violation of federal statute.”

The Global Virome Project was launched to hunt down and catalogue previously unknown viruses around the globe. According to USRTK, the Global Virome Project is currently trying to obtain $1.2 billion to fund the collection and identification of more than 1 million viruses from wildlife, with the goal of predicting which ones might evolve to infect humans.

Virus Researcher May Have Siphoned Taxpayer Funds

As detailed by USRTK and Thacker, USAID appears to have funded overseas travel to promote and fundraise for the Global Virome Project using PREDICT program monies — all while Carroll was still heading the USAID.

What’s more, emails suggest Carroll may have used his position as USAID director of pandemic threats to build credibility for the controversial Virome Project and get it off the ground. As just one example, in an August 2017 fundraising pitch, one of the Global Virome Project board members stated that the idea for the project was “championed by the USAID Emerging Pandemic Threats Division.”⁵

Based on the emails obtained, it appears the USAID Pandemic Threats Division, under Carroll’s direction, funneled at least $270,969 to the Global Virome Project.⁶ However, it could potentially be hundreds of thousands of dollars more.

One email states that the Virome Project’s budget was overdrawn by $118,000, and that a $116,000 unobligated subaward earmarked for Columbia University was offsetting the overdraft.

That email also referenced a $341,000 subaward that would be given to Metabiota for a cost-benefit analysis once “the balance of our Y5 [year 5] obligation is received from USAID, but please let me know if this is unacceptable, and I’ll see what can possibly be done (creative accounting required).”⁷

Walter Shaub, former director of the Office of Government Ethics called the evidence “troubling,” as Carroll’s use of a USAID email address is prohibited if the Global Virome Project is not a government project, but his own.⁸ Kedric Payne, senior director of ethics with the watchdog group Campaign Legal Center, also commented, telling USRTK:⁹

“The law is clear that officials cannot use government resources to benefit themselves or prospective employers. If Carroll was involved in decisions benefitting GVP while he was at USAID, it is likely that he needed approval from the agency’s ethics officials. The public has a right to know if their public officials comply with conflict of interest laws.”

Similarly, Scott Amey, general counsel for another watchdog group called the Project on Government Oversight, stated, “There’s [sic] numerous conflict of interest laws that should be investigated here to ensure that Carroll didn’t violate the laws on the books.”¹⁰

Carroll’s Work on the Two Projects Overlapped for Years

While Carroll has publicly stated that he founded the Global Virome Project after he retired from USAID, this does not appear to be the case. While it’s still unclear when Carroll actually retired from USAID, the Los Angeles Times reported that PREDICT was shut down in September 2019, and according to The New York Times, Carroll retired when PREDICT shut down.

In February 2020, several news outlets reported that Carroll had stepped in as chair of the Global Virome Project.¹¹ However, USRTK claims¹² the emails show Carroll’s work on the Virome Project began in March 2017, and “indicate that Carroll’s work as USAID’s leader in viral surveillance and as the chair of the Global Virome Project overlapped for years.”

“Carroll organized calls and meetings on the project’s work with other co-founders, sought donations and helped refine fundraising pitches, pushed favorable messages in the press, and consulted on its application for tax-exempt status with the Internal Revenue Service — all while still working for USAID,” USRTK reports.¹³

Public Citizen’s Craig Holman told Thacker:¹⁴

“Whether or not Carrol is currently receiving lucrative compensation as chair of the Project is beside the point. [He] can still be held liable, even though he has left federal service. The Inspector General’s office should investigate whether the law was broken and, upon finding probable cause, refer the case to the Department of Justice for prosecution.”

On a side note, the FOIA documents also reveal a connection to the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) in China. It appears the USAID PREDICT program funded laboratory equipment for the WIV through grants to the EcoHealth Alliance.

Of course, we also know that EcoHealth Alliance funneled funding from the National Institutes of Health to the WIV by subcontracting research to them. According to USRTK, Shi Zhengli, a top coronavirus researcher at the WIV, not only worked with PREDICT but was also slated to work with the Global Virome Project.

In one March 2019 email from Daszak to someone at USAID (the recipient’s name has been redacted), Daszak notes that lawyers had flagged the overlap in Carroll’s role at USAID and the Virome Project as potentially problematic, and had suggested changes to a board of directors’ letter.

The details of what were changed have been redacted, but Daszak’s comment seems to imply that they’re aware that what they’re doing is not quite right. Daszak wrote: “I realize this isn’t the language you wanted, but it’s safer for us at this sensitive point where we still receive USAID funding ... for GVP related activities.”¹⁵

Lofty Goals That Have Resulted in Nothing

While Carroll has described the Global Virome Project as “the beginning of the end of the pandemic era,”¹⁶ critics have pointed out that the premise behind it brings more risk than reward. Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota told USRTK:

“If I thought there was a kind of ‘viral smoke alarm,’ I would invest everything imaginable in that, but this project doesn’t give us that ... Deep knowledge about Zika and Nipah has still not led to proven vaccines against them ...

Show me one thing they’ve done that has made a difference, where they could even make a case that they supposedly prevented a pandemic. Which one did they prevent? Did they find anything that helped us with this coronavirus?”

Other critics include University of Sydney evolutionary biologist and virologist Edward C. Holmes, University of Edinburgh virologist Andrew Rambaut and Scripps Research virologist Kristian G. Andersen. In a 2018 Nature article¹⁷ titled “Pandemics: Spend on Surveillance, Not Prediction,” the trio wrote that the Global Virome Project is unlikely to predict or prevent future pandemics because animal viruses rarely cause epidemics in humans:

“Around 250 human viruses have been described, and only a small subset of these have caused major epidemics this century. Advocates of prediction also argue that it will be possible to anticipate how likely a virus is to emerge in people on the basis of its sequence, and by using knowledge of how it interacts with cells (obtained, for instance, by studying the virus in human cell cultures). This is misguided.”

Curious Biden-China-Ukraine Connections

Other curious connections that are emerging from this story revolve around Metabiota, which was a core partner of the USAID PREDICT project, and later contracted to perform a cost-benefit analysis for the Global Virome Project. As detailed by the Daily Expose:¹⁸

The founder of Metabiota, Nathan Wolfe, also has ties to the World Economic Forum (WEF), which is driving The Great Reset agenda. He’s a WEF Young Global Leader graduate and was awarded the WEF’s Technology Pioneer award in 2021.

Wolfe has served on the EcoHealth Alliance’s editorial board since 2004. In 2017, he cowrote a study on coronaviruses in bats together with Daszak (EcoHealth). Wolfe has also received more than $20 million in research grants from Google, NIH, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and others.

According to the Daily Expose, Wolfe also has ties to deceased pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. In his 2012 book, “The Viral Storm,” Wolfe thanked friends for their support, including Epstein and Boris Nikolic. Nikolic, a biotech venture capitalist, was named “back-up executor” in Epstein’s will.

Take Action

There are many things here that we, the American people, need to get to the bottom of, starting with the misuse of taxpayer funds. To that end, if you live in the U.S., I would suggest you contact members of Congress and ask them to investigate²² the potential unlawful actions of Carroll during his time at USAID.

The U.S. Congress has the power to conduct investigations into potential criminal conduct, and if malfeasance is found, they can then refer the matter to the Department of Justice for investigation and prosecution, if appropriate.²³ To find out who your Congressman is, and their contact information, see USA.gov.

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Emodin, a compound found in Chinese rhubarb (Rheum palmatum), may help prevent colon cancer,¹ confirming one of its ancient uses as an anticancer remedy in China. As a revered medicinal herb in traditional Chinese medicine, Chinese rhubarb, also known as rhei or dahuang,² has long been prized for its antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and antifibrotic properties.

One of its most powerful compounds — emodin — is a natural anthraquinone with demonstrated antitumorigenic properties. Past studies in mice have shown, for instance, that emodin safely reduced mammary tumorigenesis and was beneficial for colorectal cancer.³ New research also found that emodin may be an “effective primary therapy against the onset of genetic and chemically induced sporadic colorectal cancer.”⁴

Majority of Colorectal Cancer Cases Related to Diet

Aside from skin cancer, colorectal cancer is the third most common type of cancer in the U.S., as well as the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths.⁵ Lifestyle factors, including dietary choices, play a role in the occurrence and progression of colorectal cancer,⁶ with only an estimated 20% of cases caused by genetic factors, and the remainder due to environmental factors.

Up to 70% of colorectal cancer (CRC) cases are believed to be related to diet, leading researchers with the University of South Carolina School of Medicine to state:⁷

“As such, bioactive food components offer exciting possibilities for chemoprevention due to their potential to target many factors associated with the development and progression of CRC. Furthermore, the ability of bioactive food components to elicit tumoricidal effects without displaying the high toxicity exhibited by standard pharmacological interventions may translate to improved quality of life and survival in patients with cancer.”

Citing a “critical need” for studies that both establish the efficacy of bioactive food compounds as well as reveal the mechanisms of action behind their benefits, the team set out to uncover emodin’s potential to combat colorectal cancer.

Rhubarb Compound Emodin Fights Colorectal Cancer

Using a genetic model of intestinal cancer and a chemically induced model of colorectal cancer in mice, the researchers administered emodin to the animals three times a week for 11 weeks. In both cases, emodin reduced polyp count and size.⁸ Polyps are growths on the inner lining of the colon that can turn into cancer.

In addition, mice that received emodin had lower pro-tumor macrophages — immune cells that may promote tumorigenesis.⁹ Overall, the researchers concluded that emodin is an “effective primary therapy” against the onset of colorectal cancer, noting:¹⁰

“We established that emodin reduces the M2-like protumorigenic macrophages in the tumor microenvironment. Furthermore, we provide evidence that emodin may be acting to antagonize the P2X7 receptor within the bone tissue and consequently decrease the activation of proinflammatory cells, which may have implications for recruitment of cells to the tumor microenvironment.”

Emodin Reduces Breast Cancer Metastasis

In addition to colorectal cancer, emodin also shows promise for other types of cancer due to its ability to block tumor-promoting interactions between cancer cells and macrophages. This alters the tumor microenvironment, ameliorating its immunosuppressive state.¹¹

In 2020, University of South Carolina School of Medicine researchers again looked into the cancer-fighting properties of emodin, noting that they previously found it inhibited breast tumor growth in mice.¹²

In a study published in the journal Theranostics, they revealed that administering emodin to mice prior to surgery to remove breast tumors stopped the cancer from metastasizing and recurring in the lungs after surgery.

Emodin successfully suppressed epithelial mesenchymal-transition and cancer stem cell formation, and researchers noted, “Our study provides evidence suggesting that emodin harbors the potential for clinical development as a new effective and safe agent to halt metastatic recurrence of breast cancer.”¹³

Another 2020 study found, similarly, that emodin may be a useful therapy for triple negative breast cancer because it inhibits angiogenesis by targeting vascular endothelial growth factor A transcription.¹⁴ A 2016 review of emodin also broke down its anticancer activities, noting:¹⁵

• Emodin induces apoptosis and significantly inhibited the cell growth of four bladder cancer cell lines
• Emodin is antimetastasis and has inhibited the proliferation and invasion of breast cancer cells when administered in combination with curcumin
• Emodin may reverse multidrug resistance, which is a significant obstacle to cancer treatment, and “inhibits cell growth in several types of cancer cells and regulates genes and proteins related to the control of cell apoptosis, cell invasion, metastasis and cell cycle arrest”

Interest in emodin’s anticancer effects has increased in recent years, and a 2021 review published in Cancers touted its benefits, as well as potential toxicity, including hepatotoxicity and reproductive toxicity. Because of this, they noted that more research is needed to determine optimal dosages to maximize benefits and reduce potential toxicity. Still, they noted:¹⁶

“Emodin has been suggested to be effective for cancer management, principally in digestive system cancers (like pancreatic cancer) by modulating multiple molecular targets included in tumor growth, angiogenesis, invasion, and metastasis according to in vivo or in vitro experimental models. In current years’ investigations, emodin was shown to have anticancer activity in different cancer types …”

Emodin Protects Against Multiple Chronic Diseases

Emodin, which is found not only in Chinese rhubarb but also in aloe vera, giant knotweed, the herb Polygonum multiflorum (tuber fleeceflower) and Polygonum cuspidatum (Japanese knotweed), has impressive therapeutic properties beyond its anticancer effects, which include:^17,18

Anti-inflammatory	Antioxidant
Antibacterial	Antivirus
Anti-diabetes	Immunosuppressive
Osteogenesis promotion	Anti-osteoporotic
Anti-allergic	Hepatoprotective

Given these fundamental properties, researchers wrote in the Chinese Journal of Natural Medicines, “emodin is expected to become an effective preventive and therapeutic drug of cancer, myocardial infarction, atherosclerosis, diabetes, acute pancreatitis, asthma, periodontitis, fatty livers and neurodegenerative diseases.”¹⁹

The neuroprotective effects of emodin and other rhubarb anthraquinones, including chrysophanol, rhein, physcion and danthron, are also well established. Such compounds have a therapeutic effect on central nervous system diseases, such as:²⁰

Cerebral ischemic stroke	Intracerebral hemorrhage
Traumatic brain injury	Brain tumor
Alzheimer’s disease	Depression

With a more than 2,000-year history of use in traditional Chinese medicine,²¹ emodin is also known for laxative effects, has a wide range of actions on the immune system and may be useful in supporting bone health and preventing osteoporosis.

Emodin for Spike Protein Detox

If you’ve had COVID-19 or received a COVID-19 injection, you may have dangerous spike proteins circulating in your body. While spike protein is naturally found in SARS-CoV-2, no matter the variant, it’s also produced in your body when you receive a COVID-19 shot. In its native form in SARS-CoV-2, the spike protein is responsible for the pathologies of the viral infection.

In its wild form it’s known to open the blood-brain barrier, cause cell damage (cytotoxicity) and, Dr. Robert Malone, the inventor of the mRNA and DNA vaccine core platform technology,²² said, it “is active in manipulating the biology of the cells that coat the inside of your blood vessels — vascular endothelial cells, in part through its interaction with ACE2, which controls contraction in the blood vessels, blood pressure and other things.”²³

It’s also been revealed that the spike protein on its own is enough to cause inflammation and damage to the vascular system, even independent of a virus.²⁴ The World Council for Health (WCH), a worldwide coalition of health-focused organizations and civil society groups that seek to broaden public health knowledge, has released a spike protein detox guide,²⁵ and emodin is a featured spike protein inhibitor, which means it inhibits the binding of the spike protein to human cells.

Interestingly, emodin also has antiviral properties and was found to inhibit the SARS-CoV coronavirus. In 2016, researchers noted:²⁶

“[E]modin significantly blocked the S [spike] protein and ACE2 interactions in a dose-dependent manner and inhibited the infectivity of S protein-pseudotyped retrovirus to Vero E6 cells. The results suggested that emodin might be considered as a potential lead therapeutic agent in the treatment of SARS.

… these results suggest that emodin might be a potent viral inhibitor with a broad spectrum of antiviral activities, indicating that emodin might act as an antiviral drug by blocking virus infection and replication in a time-dependent and concentration-dependent manner.”

A Warning About Oxalates in Rhubarb

While emodin is primarily found in Chinese rhubarb, anthraquinones are also found in Rheum rhabarbarum — the tart rhubarb that’s popular for cooking. While rhubarb has many health benefits, such as being an excellent source of vegetable nitrates, which turn into beneficial nitric oxide, it’s also high in potentially toxic phytochemicals known as oxalates.

As noted by Dr. Paul Saladino, a certified functional medicine practitioner through the Institute for Functional Medicine, “You could get really sick from the oxalates in rhubarb, for example. We're aware that some plants are so toxic that they're frankly poisonous. We could die [if we eat them]. Basically, every plant in nature is part of a delicate balance, a delicate exchange system with other animals.”²⁷

You can mediate against oxalate toxicity by adding about 500 milligrams of powdered calcium citrate or magnesium citrate — which bind to oxalate and allow it to pass unabsorbed through your digestive tract — to, for instance, a rhubarb-containing smoothie (or a green smoothie, as many vegetables contain high levels of oxalates). But if you’re consuming rhubarb in supplement form, it’s important to ensure that the oxalates have been removed.

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This article was previously published May 23, 2019, and has been updated with new information.

Science has proven time after time that food is potent medicine. Broccoli, for example, has a solid scientific foundation showing it's one of the most valuable health-promoting foods around. While it contains several health-promoting compounds, one of the most widely studied is sulforaphane.

The cancer-fighting properties of sulforaphane are perhaps the most well-known, but it has also been shown to benefit your heart and brain, boosting detoxification¹ and helping prevent and/or treat high blood pressure,² heart disease, Alzheimer's³ and even autism.^4,5,6 Now, researchers report sulforaphane may also be helpful in the treatment of schizophrenia.^7,8,9

Sulforaphane May Improve Cognition

An initial study,¹⁰ published in Clinical Psychopharmacology and Neuroscience in 2015, involved just 10 outpatients with schizophrenia. Patients were given 30 milligrams (mg) of sulforaphane glucosinolate per day for eight weeks. As reported by the authors:

"Clinical symptoms using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and cognitive function using the Japanese version of CogState battery were evaluated at the beginning of the study and at week 8.

A total of 7 patients completed the trial. The mean score in the Accuracy component of the One Card Learning Task increased significantly after the trial … This result suggests that SFN [sulforaphane] has the potential to improve cognitive function in patients with schizophrenia."

Schizophrenia Linked to Chemical Imbalances in the Brain

More recently, a series of three animal and human studies¹¹ by researchers at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine suggest sulforaphane may also benefit patients with schizophrenia by helping to rebalance the glutamate levels in their brain. As reported by Neuroscience News:¹²

"Schizophrenia is marked by hallucinations, delusions and disordered thinking, feeling, behavior, perception and speaking. Drugs used to treat schizophrenia don't work completely for everyone, and they can cause a variety of undesirable side effects, including metabolic problems increasing cardiovascular risk, involuntary movements, restlessness, stiffness and 'the shakes.'"

According to Dr. Akira Sawa, director of the Johns Hopkins The Schizophrenia Center, "It's possible that future studies could show sulforaphane to be a safe supplement to give people at risk of developing schizophrenia as a way to prevent, delay or blunt the onset of symptoms."¹³

One of the studies¹⁴ in this series, published January 9, 2019, in JAMA Psychiatry, assessed differences in brain metabolism between 81 schizophrenic patients and 91 healthy controls, finding schizophrenics had lower levels of key brain chemicals associated with the disease — glutamate, N-acetylaspartate,¹⁵ GABA and glutathione — in their anterior cingulate cortex, a brain region involved in executive function, emotional affect and cognition.¹⁶

According to the paper¹⁷ "Cognitive and Emotional Influences in Anterior Cingulate Cortex," this brain region appears to be "the brain's error detection and correction device," and "is part of a circuit involved in a form of attention that serves to regulate both cognitive and emotional processing."

In the brain, glutamate — an excitatory neurotransmitter¹⁸ — plays an important role in brain cell communication, and lower levels have been linked to both schizophrenia and depression.

Schizophrenics also had lower levels of N-acetylaspartate in the orbitofrontal region, an area involved in cognitive processing and decision-making, as well as the thalamus, an area involved in the relaying of sensory signals and the regulation of consciousness.

They also had lower levels of glutathione in the thalamus. Glutathione, a master antioxidant produced by your body, is made up of glutamate, cysteine and glycine, and is a physiologic reservoir of neuronal glutamate.¹⁹

Modulating Glutamate Levels May Improve Schizophrenia

For the second study in the series, the researchers focused on the management of glutamate in the brain. As reported by Neuroscience News,²⁰ they wondered whether faulty glutamate management might be a key problem in the disease, and whether drugs could be used to "shift this balance to either release glutamate from storage when there isn't enough, or send it into storage if there is too much."

So, in this study,²¹ published February 12, 2019, in PNAS, they blocked an enzyme that turns glutamate into glutathione in the brain cells of rats, using a drug called L-Buthionine sulfoximine, thereby allowing glutamine to be used up.

"The researchers found that these nerves were more excited and fired faster, which means they were sending more messages to other brain cells. The researchers say shifting the balance this way is akin to shifting the brain cells to a pattern similar to one found in the brains of people with schizophrenia," Neuroscience News ²² explains.

Next, to increase the level of glutamine stored as glutathione, they used sulforaphane, as it activates a gene that makes an enzyme required for the synthesis of glutathione from glutamate. As expected, this slowed the speed with which neurons fired.

In other words, it helped normalize the brain cells, allowing them to behave in a manner more like healthy controls. Dr. Thomas Sedlak, assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences told Neuroscience News:²³

"We are thinking of glutathione as glutamate stored in a gas tank. If you have a bigger gas tank, you have more leeway on how far you can drive, but as soon as you take the gas out of the tank it's burned up quickly. We can think of those with schizophrenia as having a smaller gas tank."

Sulforaphane Boosts Glutathione Levels in the Brain

In an earlier pilot study²⁴ (counted as the third in this series) by the same team, published in the May 2018 issue of Molecular Neuropsychiatry, they used mice and healthy human subjects to assess the effect of sulforaphane on glutathione levels in the brain. Here, patients with a history of psychiatric illness were specifically excluded. As explained by the authors:

"The participants completed two visits, scheduled 7 days (1 week) apart. The participants were given 100 µmol sulforaphane as standardized broccoli sprout extract in the form of 2 gel capsules, and instructed to ingest the extract each morning for 1 week …

Urine and blood specimens were collected prior to the first dose of broccoli sprout extract and within 4 h of the final dose. MRS [magnetic resonance spectroscopy] scans were performed prior to the first dose and within 4 h of ingesting the final dose …

Following 1-week administration of sulforaphane, the study participants demonstrated a significant augmentation of GSH in non-monocytes that include a mixture of T cells, B cells, and NK cells. The GSH level was 9.22 nmol/mL before sulforaphane administration and 12.2 nmol/mL following sulforaph­ane administration, a 32% increase …

We report that a short-term administration of sulfo­raphane was sufficient to significantly increase peripheral GSH levels in human subjects. We found an increase in GSH in the HP [hippocampus], but not elsewhere in the brain regions assessed. The peripheral GSH ratio had a strong and significantly positive correlation with brain GSH levels in the THAL [thalamus] upon sulforaphane treatment …

[I]n a submitted study, we will report that peripheral GSH levels may be correlated with cognitive functions. We thus posit the significance of exploring the possible correlations between peripheral GSH and clinical/neuropsychological measures and the influence of sulforaphane on such functional measures that are altered in neuropsychiatric disorders. The present study is a key first step toward such future studies."

In summary, these findings suggest sulforaphane might be a safe alternative to help reduce psychosis and hallucinations in schizophrenic patients, although the researchers warn more studies are required to identify optimal dosing and assess long-term effects.

Studies Suggest Sulforaphane May Improve Autism Symptoms

Another series of studies suggests cruciferous vegetables high in sulforaphane might benefit those with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), primarily by upregulating genes that protect against oxidative stress, inflammation and DNA damage, “all of which are prominent and possibly mechanistic characteristics of ASD,” the authors say.²⁵

Sulforaphane also boosts antioxidant capacity, glutathione synthesis, mitochondrial function, oxidative phosphorylation and lipid peroxidation, while lowering neuroinflammmation. According to the researchers, these characteristics also make it suitable for the treatment of ASD.²⁶

The first study,²⁷ published in 2014, found daily treatment with dietary sulforaphane significantly reduced the severity of "socially impaired behavior" in children with ASD after 18 weeks. Improvements became obvious (compared to those in the placebo group) at four weeks of treatment.

At 18 weeks, the sulforaphane treatment group had a 34% reduction in Abberant Behavior Checklist (ABC) scores and a 17% reduction in Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS) scores. According to the authors:²⁸

"[A] significantly greater number of participants receiving sulforaphane had improvement in social interaction, abnormal behavior, and verbal communication. Upon discontinuation of sulforaphane, total scores on all scales rose toward pretreatment levels."

Series Highlights Success Stories With Sulforaphane Treatment

The second study,²⁹ published in 2017, presented a case series follow-up of patients who continued the sulforaphane treatment after the first study ended. Here's a limited outtake from the narrative provided by one of the families whose son is referred to as "R":

"R's parents wanted to help him: 'He would make constant noises and did all these abnormal motor tics; [we] felt like he really had no control [over his behavior and body] and it was just noise, not functional words. He didn't have any expressive language.'

R's parents saw several medical specialists who prescribed a total of 18 different medications, all of which had either minimal or negative effects on R. 'Nothing changed the constant noises or the terrible rage attacks,' until R took SF [sulforaphane] …

R's family took him to the Lurie Center at Massachusetts General Hospital where we were conducting the study on the effects of SF on males with ASD. The study was a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial. However, within days, R's mother believed that he was taking SF:

'I knew that he was on the study drug because I saw such a change so quickly. I want to scream from the rooftops and tell people to give the kids broccoli sprouts [extract] because literally, it changed my life,' reported R's mother.

'Now we can go to the movies, restaurants, plays, we went on vacation with another family, we go to church, we just went to a concert, things we could never do before are now possible. [I am] able to have confidence and he [R] is more confident as well.'

N.B. Such a rapid response was unusual in the context of what was observed by the study physicians with other subjects. When responses to supplementation were observed, they generally took 3 or 4 weeks to become manifest. In this case, the study team actually wondered whether the mother might be exhibiting a placebo response; however, the ABC subscales and both ABC and SRS overall scores for R did also change."

New Mechanism of Action Revealed

The third paper³⁰ in this series, a trial progress report published in 2018, assessed the safety, clinical effects and mechanisms of action of sulforaphane in ASD. Interestingly, this paper describes how sulforaphane mimics "the fever effect" in ASD. This is where high fever temporarily improves behavior in autistic children. The researchers explain:

"Fever stimulates heat shock proteins (HSP) and cellular stress responses, leading to improved synaptic function and long-range connectivity. Expression of gene transcription by NFE2L2 (Nrf2), which is reduced in ASD, also increases during fever.

Sulforaphane (SF), an isothiocyanate obtained from broccoli sprouts, induces HSP and Nrf2 as well as 'cell-protective' responses that may benefit ASD through common cellular mechanisms underlying heterogeneous phenotypes."

While this trial was still incomplete at publication, as only 46 participants out of a planned 50 had been enrolled, preliminary analysis showed "26% participants were much/very much improved at seven weeks, 38% at 15 weeks, 64% at 22 weeks, and 64% at 30 weeks," the researchers said, adding that "preliminary results show that sulforaphane appears to be safe and effective in children with ASD."

Sulforaphane Stands Out as Potential Alzheimer's Treatment

Sulforaphane may also be useful in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. In a 2018 study,³¹ mice with Alzheimer's were treated with sulforaphane for four months, which significantly inhibited both the generation and accumulation of amyloid-beta, and alleviated several pathological changes associated with Alzheimer's, including oxidative stress and neuroinflammation.

The mice also demonstrated cognitive benefits, remaining normal, cognitively speaking, compared to wild-type mice at 10 months of age, which is when dementia typically begins in Alzheimer's mice. In tests of neurons themselves, pretreating cortical neurons with sulforaphane protected them against injury caused by amyloid beta.

An earlier study³² published in 2009 revealed that antioxidants — including sulforaphane — protect cells from oxidative damage, facilitate removal of the amyloid-beta peptide and reduce abnormal protein-related causes of disease.

In studying how sulforaphane interacts with amyloid-beta to prevent various neurodegenerative processes, researchers of a 2014 study³³ used liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization mass spectrometry to reveal that amyloid-beta is less likely to aggregate in the presence of sulforaphane.

Another 2014 study³⁴ showed that, in mice with Alzheimer's-like lesions (induced in part by administration of aluminum), sulforaphane reduced neurobehavioral deficits by promoting the growth of new neurons (neurogenesis) as well as reducing the aluminum load.

Broccoli Provides Many Health Benefits

While this article focuses on the neurological benefits of broccoli, research has revealed a long list of health benefits associated with this cruciferous vegetable, including a reduced risk for:³⁵

Osteoarthritis36	Cancer — Studies have shown sulforaphane supports normal cell function and division while causing apoptosis (programmed cell death) in colon,37 prostate,38 breast39 and tobacco-induced lung cancer40 cells, and reducing the number of cancerous liver tumors in mice41
High blood pressure42	Heart disease43
Kidney disease44	Insulin resistance45 and Type 2 diabetes46
Obesity47	Allergies48,49

Broccoli and other water- and nutrient-rich veggies also support healthy liver function, which in turn promotes optimal functioning of your natural detoxification systems. Broccoli sprouts, in particular, have been shown to help detox environmental pollutants such as benzene.^50,51

This is important for virtually everyone these days, but especially women of childbearing age. Autistic children are known to have higher levels of environmental toxins in their system, and this underlying toxic burden plays a significant role.

Healthy liver function also helps promote healthy, beautiful skin, making broccoli a good antiaging food. What's more, the sulforaphane in broccoli also helps repair skin damage.

How to Boost Sulforaphane Benefits of Broccoli

To boost the benefits of sulforaphane in broccoli and other cruciferous veggies, pair them with a myrosinase-containing food.⁵² Myrosinase is an enzyme that converts the precursor gluocosinalate, glucoraphanin, to sulforaphane. Examples include mustard seed,⁵³ daikon radishes, wasabi, arugula or coleslaw, with mustard seed being the most potent.

Adding a myrosinase-rich food is particularly important if you eat the broccoli raw, or use frozen broccoli. Ideally, broccoli should be steamed for three to four minutes to increase the available sulforaphane content. This light steaming eliminates epithiospecifier protein — a heat-sensitive sulfur-grabbing protein that inactivates sulforaphane — while retaining the myrosinase in the broccoli.⁵⁴

Steaming is important because without myrosinase, your body cannot absorb sulforaphane. If you opt for boiling, blanch the broccoli in boiling water for no more than 20 to 30 seconds, then immerse it in cold water to stop the cooking process. If you prefer raw food, you'd be better off eating raw broccoli sprouts instead of mature broccoli.

According to Dr. Paul Talalay, professor of pharmacology and co-author of the 1997 study⁵⁵ "Broccoli Sprouts: An Exceptionally Rich Source of Inducers of Enzymes That Protect Against Chemical Carcinogens," "Three-day-old broccoli sprouts consistently contain 20 to 50 times the amount of chemoprotective compounds found in mature broccoli heads."⁵⁶ As a result, you can eat far less of them while still maximizing your benefits.

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