Benefits of Broccoli back in media....but it's only half the story

BENEFITS OF BROCCOLI BACK IN MEDIA

BUT ITS ONLY HALF THE STORY

I read the “9 Health Benefits of Broccoli” published Oct 2023 onverywellhealth.com [1]. A good article but the author fails to explain the compounds in broccoli are hard to metabolize.... In other words, eat heaps to gain little.

Now, don't get me wrong you need to eat your greens, especially broccoli, but if you are after the anti-cancer, hormonal correction benefits from broccoli, it is best to supplement with a bioavailable DIM. Dr Zelig's work whilst old is very encouraging.

Why DIM and not I3C as the author suggests – both are from cruciferous vegetables (like broccoli) and are hard to metabolise without supplementation, but I3C is generally unstable, whereas DIM is not.[2] I3C is the compound that converts to DIM – so why not supplement with DIM and bypass the downstream conversion?

One of my favourite drug reference sites is Healthline, they have provided an excellent overview of DIM, I encourage everyone to review https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/dim-supplement#basics.

Some key take homes: You need to supplement DIM because you can’t get enough from your diet. There is a volume of literature on DIM available spanning decades and covering interesting early work to more substantial human studies. DIM has been shown to inhibit aromatase.

In-vitro and in-vivo studies suggest DIM due to its ability to improve 2-hydoxyestrone and 16-hydrozyestrone may reduce breast cancer. In-vivo studies showed significant improvement in prostate health as well as Prostatic Intraepithelial Neoplasia.

Animal studies strongly suggest weight loss potential. It’s hard to refute the literature; DIM supplementation is something we should embrace.

Choosing the right DIM is not hard either. Yes, there are lots on the market, from iHerb to Amazon to US supplement companies selling online – but irrespective of the fancy marketing and discounted pricing, the literature continually references “BR-DIM”. This is the DIM that Dr Michael Zelig developed for the US company, BioResponse.

So, if you are convinced DIM needs more attention, and I hope so; know the literature shows superior PK for BR-DIM. See https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20733950/. Simply put BR-DIM appears 5x more bioavailable than its cheaper crystalline counterpart.

Dr Sean Hall

References:

[1] https://www.verywellhealth.com/broccoli-benefits-7970509

[2] https://www.differencebetween.com/what-is-the-difference-between-dim-and-indole-3-carbinol/