Obesity rates in the United States of America are pretty alarming as more than 2 in 3 adults and 1 in 6 adolescents are obese, according to the data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 2009 to 2012. Thankfully, several foods in the market right now are containing helpful compounds to combat obesity just like the sulforaphane, a phytochemical that can be seen in the likes of broccoli sprouts.
According to an article in Science Daily, a group of researchers from the Kanazawa University found out that the phytochemical sulforaphane can actually help in solving obesity problems. This is done through the ability of the said phytochemical to enhance energy consumption and to improve the bacterial flora found in the gut.
They were able to observe these results when they did an experiment among mice which were fed with high-fat food enriched with sulforaphane and another set which were fed without sulforaphane. It was found out that those mice who fed on feeds with sulforaphane had a 15% less weight gain compared to their controlled counterparts. Alongside this result, an astounding 20% visceral fat reduction was also observed on the mice that consumed the sulforaphane-rich feeds.
With these findings by the research team composed of Naoto Nagata, Liang Xu, Susumu Kohno, Yusuke Ushida, Yudai Aoki, Ryohei Umeda, Nobuo Fuke, Fen Zhuge, Yinhua Ni, Mayumi Nagashimada, Chiaki Takahashi, Hiroyuki Suganuma, Shuichi Kaneko, and Tsuguhito Ota, there's a new light on how obesity and even problems like diabetes can be solved. According to Web MD, sulforaphane can not only be used for digestive purposes but also, it can prevent the risks of cancers like the prostate cancer. It's also widely available in the market as sulforaphane is found in most vegetables such as the broccoli, cabbage, and even cauliflowers.
There's a lot of promise in the future of using sulforaphane in preventing obesity. But, researchers are still studying whether what dosage would be the most effective and the safest which patients can soon use.
