"On the Kevin Rode podcast Rhonda Patrick mentioned that broccoli sprouts increase
the production of glutathione in the brain. So I was wondering what your thoughts are on
continuous supplementation. If taken long-term, would the brain stop producing it naturally?"
So for people, for reference, that aren't familiar, the clinical study that I referred
to on Kevin's podcast the "Kevin Rose Show" was in 2018, published in 2018, and they found that
about 17.7 milligrams sulforaphane per day for one week increased blood glutathione levels, and this
correlated with increased glutathione in certain brain regions. And these were in healthy people.
So, you know, as Jed mentioned, glutathione is one of the body's major antioxidant systems.
So I guess you kind of answered that already,
but maybe you want to...if there's any concluding thoughts you want to give.
- [Dr. Fahey]: Yeah, yeah. So I kind of did answer that just now. And actually I
think I was a co-author of that study of that study you're referring to,
if it's the one by Tom Sedlak and Akira Sawa and others.
- [Dr. Patrick]: You were, that's right.
- [Dr. Fahey]: Yeah.
- [Dr. Patrick]: Shame on me.
- [Dr. Fahey]: No, no, no. That's okay. They did the heavy work on the study, I didn't. But,
so indeed with healthy people they showed what you said. And so I think there's...the brain won't
stop producing glutathione naturally, there's no question about that. And glutathione production...
- [Dr. Patrick]: What about during age, the aging process?
- [Dr. Fahey]: It declines naturally with age. And, in fact,
starting as early as in your 20s. So, Rhonda, you're in the downhill slope already.
- [Dr. Patrick]: For sure.
- [Dr. Fahey]: I'm way down. So, you know, supplementing with sulforaphane, I think,
apparently helps to restore glutathione back to normal,
or young healthy levels. And I think some animal studies by that same group have shown that.
- [Dr. Patrick]: In the brain, I mean how freaking cool is that? I mean I've seen studies...
I was just...it was a small clinical study, you know, but I was just
blown away that you guys showed that it increased levels in the brain.
- [Dr. Fahey]: I think it is pretty freaking cool. And I think also the study that you're
referring to, or a related study by Sedlak and Sawa and others in radiology at Hopkins,
showed that...they also showed in people they were able to show...to
localize that enhanced glutathione by a functional MRI. Or... Yeah, by...
- [Dr. Patrick]: Yeah.
- [Dr. Fahey]: So, I mean, the imaging, just to sort of...it's not icing on the cake,
it's the future. And, I mean, I think we're going to see, I hope we're going to see,
a lot more functional MRI type studies where people say, "Yeah,
yeah, yeah. I see this and that in the blood, I see this and that in the urine. You know,
I see conversion. I see these," whether it's drugs or phytochemicals, "I see these effects in blood."
But we don't really care that much about blood except as an index or a market. What
we care about is is it doing something in the brain or the muscles or, you know, whatever.
And so these...now with higher resolution MRI, people are able to show these changes and it's
pretty cool. If I had...if I was reborn and rebranded as a scientist,
I'd want to be a microbiome specialist. But I'm way past that. But I think I'd always want to
be a functional MRI person because that's going to be very cool as we go forward.