Plant Natural Products and Health
Health benefits of glucosinolates and cruciferous vegetables
Primary Objectives
- Elucidating the molecular basis of the observed health benefits of broccoli consumption - an integrated study on plant quality and human gene and protein expression.
- Elucidating the biological and chemical activity of glucosinolates and isothiocyanates.
Our research builds upon a long term programme on the biology and health benefits of cruciferous vegetables and glucosinolates supported by BBSRC at IFR and elsewhere.
Glucosinolates are sulphur containing glycosides that accumulate in tissues of cruciferous crops. Following consumption, deglycosylation occurs due to the action of plant or microbial thioglucosinases ('myrosinases') leading to unstable compounds that rearrange, resulting in the formation of isothiocyanates, indoles and a small number of other products. Epidemiological studies have consistently reported a reduction in incidence of chronic disease such as cancer and myocardial infarction through the consumption of one or more portions of cruciferous vegetables per week.
There is an inconsistency between the results of observational studies that suggest that in general only moderate intake of broccoli is required for health benefits, and the suggested mechanisms from cell and animal studies that results from exposure of these systems to isothiocyanates far greater than that which would occur in the diet.
Research at IFR makes a unique and significant contribution by obtaining evidence for health benefits of cruciferous vegetables and elucidating fundamental mechanisms through the use of short and long term human dietary intervention studies. Much of the basis of the current research is founded upon the development of broccoli lines with enhanced levels of glucosinolates that were developed at the John Innes Centre in the 1990s, and for which there is world wide patent protection. These lines have been licensed for commercialisation by Seminis Inc, a subsidiary of Monsanto. Through comparing the biological activity of these lines with that of standard broccoli it is possible to distinguish the activity of glucosinolates and their degradation products to that of the phytochemical background. We have completed a study on the pharmacokineteics of sulforaphane obtained from consuming standard and high glucosinolate broccoli and its interaction with human GSTM1 genotype, and are in progress of completing three pilot studies to assess the effect of broccoli consumption on global gene expression within healthy gastric, bladder and prostate tissue. These studies on the effect of broccoli consumption are complemented with studies with the isothiocyanates that are obtained from broccoli in which we are addressing the fundamental molecular interactions that underlie changes in gene and protein expression that we observed with broccoli consumption.
Fax: +44(0)1603 507723 
