"Best Foods for Autism"
You may remember my series of videos
about the engine-of-aging enzyme, TOR.
Well, kids with autism tend to have higher TOR activity in their bodies,
and this hyperactive TOR signaling may actually play a role
in causing autism, making TOR a potential target to treat autism,
or even theoretically reverse it, if we could target
downstream TOR signaling, like between TOR and S6K1.
Well, that's actually one of the ways broccoli compounds
kill off prostate cancer cells, by inhibiting
the signal transduction between TOR and S6K1.
Breast cancer, too.
Sulforaphane is a potent inhibitor
of breast cancer cells because it targets downstream elements
of the TOR pathway.
So if we gave broccoli to those with autism, if it blocks TOR,
maybe it would block some of the synaptic dysfunction
that contributes to the features of autism.
And that's in addition to blocking autism pathways four other ways:
oxidative stress and lower antioxidant capacity,
the mitochondrial dysfunction, the brain inflammation.
And not just in a Petri dish:
sulforaphane can cross the blood-brain-barrier.
You eat broccoli and sulforaphane quickly reaches your brain
to exert its protective effects—in theory,
but you don't know until you put it to the test.
But now you can understand why such a study
could attract researchers from leading institutions,
Harvard, Hopkins; get published
in one of our most prestigious journals, PNAS
(the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences).
But what did they find?
Well first, what did they do?
A placebo-controlled, double-blind, randomized trial,
young men (ages 13 through 27) with moderate to severe autism
received sulforaphane from broccoli sprouts
or an indistinguishable sugar pill.
They were dosed according to body weight.
Those under 100 pounds got about a tablespoon
of broccoli sprouts' worth of sulforaphane a day,
which is about a cup's worth of broccoli.
Between 100 and 200 pounds got about 2 cups of broccoli's worth,
or two tablespoons of fresh broccoli sprouts,
and the big boys got three cups worth a day
or a little under a quarter cup of broccoli sprouts.
Why didn't they just use actual broccoli or actual sprouts?
Because then you couldn't have a blinded study;
the patients, doctors, and parents would know
who's getting the special treatment and who's not,
and that could introduce bias just through the placebo effect.
So instead, no one knew until the end who got the sulforaphane
and who just got nothing in a pill.
They chose dietary sulforaphane because of its capacity
to reverse oxidation, dysfunction, inflammation.
Yeah, but when put to the test, did it actually work?
Well, the placebo didn't.
Give people with autism nothing, and nothing much happens.
But effectively, secretly sneak them some broccoli,
and substantial improvements in behavior,
social interaction, and verbal communication.
But it all disappeared once the broccoli stopped.
Let me show you what it looks like.
This is the ABC score, the aberrant behavior checklist,
which includes things like repetitive behaviors.
In the placebo group, no big change,
which is what you'd expect, but the abnormal behaviors
plunged in the sulforaphane group,
the group that got the sulforaphane found
in about 5 cents worth of broccoli sprouts a day.
But the study ended on week 18, and a month later
things were heading back to where they started.
Similar findings for a social responsiveness scale:
significant improvements until the treatment was stopped,
and then caught right back up
to how poorly those in the placebo group continued to function.
And these weren't just scores on a page.
The substantial improvements were conspicuous;
the doctors could see it,
their parents and caregivers could see the improvements.
No drug has ever been shown to have these kinds of effects.
And look, these were young men, starting age, you know, 13.
One could imagine it working as well or even better
for younger children, because their brains are still developing.
And look, what's the downside?
Broccoli sprouts are widely consumed all over the world
without any reports of adverse effects.
Now remember we're talking about whole foods,
not broccoli or sulforaphane supplements.
Remember, I did videos about them.
Broccoli sprouts work;
commercial broccoli sprout supplements—hardly at all.
Broccoli has sulforaphane, florets more than the stems.
Broccoli sprouts have like 10 times more,
but broccoli pills, powders, and supplements have little or none.
So, broccoli and cruciferous vegetables for all kids,
autism or not, and hey, maybe pregnant women as well,
for potential prenatal prevention of autism in the first place.