To ensure its effectiveness, lead author Anders Rosengen and team shared 97 participants with diabetes in two groups: the first group was given sulphoraphane extract pills, while the second was given an empty placebo pill. Participants should regularly take this drug for 3 full months. The result? Blood sugar levels of people taking sulphoraphane pills were found to be reduced by 10 percent. This amount is even enough to reduce the risk of diabetes complications in the eyes, kidneys, and blood.
Previously, studies on the effects of sulphoraphane on decreased levels of hyperglycemia (excess blood sugar) had already been applied to cultured cells and experimental mice in the lab. Therefore, the team suspected that sulphoraphane extract could be used as a substitute for metformin, a first-line diabetes drug.
Sulforaphane in broccoli is safer than metformin
This study shows that metformin and sulphoraphane work to lower blood glucose in different ways. Metformin makes the cells insensitive to insulin so that more glucose comes out of the bloodstream, while sulphoraphane helps suppress glucose production.
But Rosengren believes that the extract can replace metformin for those who can not take the drug. It is known that less than 15 percent of people with type 2 diabetes can not tolerate the effects of metformin treatment because of the risks associated with kidney damage.
Taking metformin, for sensitive people, can increase the risk of lactic acidosis - the increase in lactic acid is harmful due to decreased kidney activity. Lactic acidosis can cause abdominal cramps, shortness of breath, muscle cramps / aches, and fatigue.
How often to eat broccoli to achieve the effect as a diabetes drug?
The above research is done by using sulphoraphane content that has been extracted into pills. The concentration of sulphoraphane in one pill used is equivalent to eating about 500 grams of whole broccoli daily. Moreover, this extract was reported to be very effective only among obese people whose blood glucose levels were higher at the start of the study. For those who are not obese, unfortunately sulforaphane pills have little effect.
Although it is impossible to eat 500 kilograms of broccoli in a day, not then you so ignore a healthy diet to manage your diabetes. Broccoli and other vegetables remain an important player in your daily diet. The content of vitamins and minerals in the vegetables to help you in sufficient nutritional needs of the body. Not only that, the high fiber content in vegetables can make you feel full longer, so you are better able to control your appetite and blood sugar
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