A chemical compound found in broccoli sprouts can stop people going on to develop type 2 diabetes, new evidence has shared.
Scientists from the University of Gothenburg in Sweden have found that sulforaphane from broccoli sprouts can improve blood sugar levels in prediabetes – a health condition where blood sugar level is higher than normal but not high enough for an individual to be diagnosed as having type 2 diabetes.
In the trial, the team of researchers examined the health outcomes of 89 adults, all of whom had high fasting blood sugar levels and were overweight or obese.
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The academics randomly assigned sulforaphane or a placebo to each participant, with neither the participants nor the researchers knowing who received sulforaphane and who received a placebo.
Those in the sulforaphane group compound had a higher average reduction in fasting blood sugar than the participants in the placebo group, the study has reported.
According to the research, the differences in fasting blood sugar were 0.2 millimoles per litre between all participants taking sulforaphane compared to those in the placebo group.
Roughly 10% of the population in Sweden are living with prediabetes, latest data has demonstrated.
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Lead author Professor Anders Rosengren said: “The treatment of prediabetes is currently lacking in many respects, but these new findings open the way for possible precision treatment using sulforaphane extracted from broccoli as a functional food.
“However, lifestyle factors remain the foundation of any treatment for prediabetes, including exercise, healthy eating, and weight loss.”
Professor Rosengren concluded: “The results of the study also offer a general model of how pathophysiology and gut flora interact with and influence treatment responses; a model that could have broader implications.”
Read more in the journal Nature Microbiology.
