Sprouts and Skin Cancer Protection

As summer approaches you might find yourself craving the sun and hoping to get your "tan on!" Let's face it...it is hard not to get sun if you are active in beautiful Austin, Texas. With that in mind, I wanted to pass along a few

interesting tips for protecting your skin from UV radiation. Turns out you can actually keep you skin looking young and beautiful using compounds found in broccoli sprouts!

"UV radiation (UVR) is a complete carcinogen that elicits a constellation of pathological events, including direct DNA damage, generation of reactive oxidants that peroxidize lipids and damage other cellular components, initiation of inflammation (sun burn), and suppression of the immune response."

Research conducted at John Hopkins used a topical application of 3-day old broccoli sprout extracts on the skin of mice and humans.

The results showed:
1.An increase in the Phase 2 enzyme activity of the body’s natural defense system
2.Protection against the UV radiation induced inflammation and redness in mice
3.Reduced susceptibility to redness from UV radiation in humans.

In the human subjects, the mean reduction in skin redness (sunburn) across six doses of UV radiation was 37.7%. Broccoli sprouts provided long-lasting protection against a carcinogen (UV radiation) in humans.

I am not suggesting that you rub sprouts all over yourself before going out to play… but that adding sprouts to your diet is a something to think about. Sprouts can be added to salads, soups, wraps, sandwiches and vegetable dips. I get mine at Whole Foods.

Also, you may be interested in learning more about other types of sprouts and their antioxidative and anti-carcinogenic properties. I suggest checking out http://www.sprouts-as-medicine.com/ for the background, and SproutPeople.org for a fun collection of recipes (they even have dessert!).

For further information see the research paper “Sulforaphane mobilises cellular defenses that protect skin against damage by UV radiation.” by P Talalay et al from John Hopkins University.