Q&A with Dr. Jed Fahey on Sulforaphane, Moringa and Chemoprotection

I'll just base a ballpark estimation on 100 grams of either broccoli or sprouts. And based on the amount of glucoraphanin that's in them and our knowledge of conversion and yield, you might get anywhere between 4 milligrams of glucoraphanin to 100-150 from 100 grams of broccoli, and that would yield anywhere from about half a milligram to something like 18 milligrams of sulforaphane.

The carnivore lifestyle is bad advice. Human beings didn't evolve as carnivores. We're omnivores. That means we need a variety of vegetables and meats. This is a product of evolution ... It's clear we didn't evolve to be carnivores.

There's been just an onslaught of new research that has shown air pollution is contributing to neurodegenerative diseases.

The biggest medical indication for moringa leaf powder is going to be—it is, I think, diabetes, and... that is under active investigation, blood glucose control.

There's an abundance of peer-reviewed scientific literature showing diets rich in fruits and vegetables, and especially cruciferous vegetables, are good. I'm not aware of credible long-term studies supporting... the carnivore approach for humans.

I think the evidence is overwhelming, though, that eating a lot of broccoli or broccoli sprouts is not harmful for you.

With broccoli sprouts, 100 grams would give you somewhere between... about 5 or 6 milligrams and about 60 milligrams of sulforaphane.

About 17.7 milligrams of sulforaphane per day for one week increased blood glutathione levels, and this correlated with an increase of glutathione in certain brain regions.

A lot of people in the lay public, especially, are under the impression that all cruciferous vegetables have sulforaphane or glucoraphanin. They do not.

If you're counting on your intestinal track's myrosinase to do all of the conversion for a [sulforaphane] supplement, you're probably going to want to take a higher level of glucoraphanin. And if you're getting a product that has myrosinase in it, you don't need as much glucoraphanin because some of that conversion is theoretically going to happen based on what you've provided in the supplement tablet.

The quantity of glucoraphanin and sulforaphane that you get from broccoli sprouts, from a couple of ounces, we think, is a reasonable amount to put you in a zone where you're getting some protective effect.

Cold exposure has actually been shown to decrease the Nrf2 pathway in animal studies. Heat exposure from something like the sauna or even exercise does increase the Nrf2 pathway, but... I don't think it does so as robustly as sulforaphane.