Sulforaphane Research in Japan – Cognitive Deficits and Schizophrenia

Kagome is a very large Japanese food company that you have never heard of, with an R&D team capable of producing standardized stable Sulforaphane- glucosinolate.   

I recently received some papers about Sulforaphane from a reader of this blog and also comments from people with schizophrenia looking for therapies

Sulforaphane is already a valued part of my autism Polypill for Monty, aged 12 with ASD.  Just google "Sulforaphane Epiphany", or use the site index tab on this blog.

Sulforaphane has been patented for various purposes by John Hopkins, however even after twenty years they have not brought to market a standardized product.  The Sulforaphane (SFN) used in their research is made in the lab and then has to be kept deep frozen.

Sulforaphane is not a stable substance and so you are wasting your money buying most supplements.  Even most types of broccoli powder, which should be a precursor to Sulforaphane (SFN), were shown to be ineffective in independent lab tests.

In Japan it seems they are far more advanced, they already have a standardized SFN-glucosinolate tablets, no mention of the need to keep them frozen.

Japanese Sulforaphane (SFN) research

What is interesting in the Japanese research into cognitive deficits in schizophrenia is that SFN shows has both prophylactic and therapeutic effects.  This suggests that even if there is no immediate benefit from taking SFN in some people, there may be some long term preventative/protective benefits.

Dietary Intake of Sulforaphane-Rich Broccoli Sprout Extracts during Juvenile and Adolescence Can Prevent Phencyclidine-Induced Cognitive Deficits at Adulthood

Oxidative stress and inflammation play a role in cognitive impairment, which is a core symptom of schizophrenia. Furthermore, a hallmark of the pathophysiology of this disease is the dysfunction of cortical inhibitory γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) neurons expressing parvalbumin (PV), which is also involved in cognitive impairment. Sulforaphane (SFN), an isothiocyanate derived from broccoli, is a potent activator of the transcription factor Nrf2, which plays a central role in the inducible expressions of many cytoprotective genes in response to oxidative stress. Keap1 is a cytoplasmic protein that is essential for the regulation of Nrf2 activity. Here, we found that pretreatment with SFN attenuated cognitive deficits, the increase in 8-oxo-dG-positive cells, and the decrease in PV-positive cells in the medial prefrontal cortex and hippocampus after repeated administration of phencyclidine (PCP). Furthermore, PCP-induced cognitive deficits were improved by the subsequent subchronic administration of SFN. Interestingly, the dietary intake of glucoraphanin (a glucosinolate precursor of SFN) during the juvenile and adolescence prevented the onset of PCP-induced cognitive deficits as well as the increase in 8-oxo-dG-positive cells and the decrease in PV-positive cells in the brain at adulthood. Moreover, the NRF2 gene and the KEAP1 gene had an epistatic effect on cognitive impairment (e.g., working memory and processing speed) in patients with schizophrenia. These findings suggest that SFN may have prophylactic and therapeutic effects on cognitive impairment in schizophrenia. Therefore, the dietary intake of SFN-rich broccoli sprouts during the juvenile and adolescence may prevent the onset of psychosis at adulthood.

  

An Open Study of Sulforaphane-rich Broccoli Sprout Extract in Patients with Schizophrenia

After giving written informed consent, participants received 3 tablets of SFN prepared by Kagome Co., Ltd. (Nagoya, Japan), totaling 30 mg of SFN-glucosinolate per day, for 8 weeks. It is known that SFN-glucosinolate is metabolized to SFN in the body.

Objective

Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by severe cognitive impairment. Accumulating evidence suggests a role for oxidative stress in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. Sulforaphane (SFN) extracted from broccoli sprout is an agent with potent anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory activity. In this study, we attempted to evaluate the effect of SFN on cognitive impairment in medicated patients with schizophrenia.

Methods

We recruited a total of 10 outpatients with schizophrenia, all of whom gave informed consent. Participants took 3 tablets of SFN, consisting of 30 mg of SFN-glucosinolate per day, for 8 weeks. Clinical symptoms using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and cognitive function using the Japanese version of CogState battery were evaluated at the beginning of the study and at week 8.

Results

A total of 7 patients completed the trial. The mean score in the Accuracy component of the One Card Learning Task increased significantly after the trial. However, we detected no other significant changes in participants.

Conclusion

This result suggests that SFN has the potential to improve cognitive function in patients with schizophrenia.

   

I do get comments from people with schizophrenia on this blog and there is clearly a big overlap between some schizophrenia and some autism.  More and more therapies are being shown to be effective in both; it seems to be the SFN is one of those therapies.

What would be nice would be a commercially available, standardized product that genuinely could be relied upon to produce SFN in the body.  The Japanese appear to have already mastered this.  No need for Johns Hopkins patents.

For the time being, I am happily using my Supersprouts broccoli sprout powder which does indeed seem to produce SFN.  If one day they stop making it, I have already found that you would just need to add heat stable myrosinase (in the form of daikon radish root) to otherwise ineffective broccoli sprout powder.

For those of you who tried other products claiming to contain/produce SFN, and found them ineffective, you do not know whether the child does not respond to SFN, or your product produced none.

  

Conclusion

SFN really does look worth a try, or perhaps even a second try for those who tried one of those “false” supplements.  Price does not always indicate quality.

One day I hope that the Japanese firm Kagome, chooses to sell its SFN tablets worldwide and not just their tomato ketchups and juices.