Eat Your Broccoli To Keep Your Gut Healthy Says Researchers

According to a recent study, mice were given broccoli to eat along with the regular diet and they were able to bear many digestive issues like leaky gut and colitis as compared to mice who weren’t given broccoli to eat. The study was led by Gary Perdew, the John T. and Paige S. Smith Professor in Agricultural Sciences, Penn State.

The Gut Health

The reports of the study were published in Science Insider, which further says that vegetables like brussels sprouts and cauliflower also possess similar properties like broccoli to improve gut health. “There are a lot of reasons we want to explore helping with gastrointestinal health and one reason is if you have problems, like a leaky gut, and start to suffer inflammation, that may then lead to other conditions, like arthritis and heart disease,” said Perdew. “Keeping your gut healthy and making sure you have good barrier functions so you’re not getting this leaky effect would be really big.”

To keep gut healthy Perdew suggested a three and a half cup of broccoli should suffice. “Now, three and a half cups is a lot, but it’s not a huge amount, really,” said Perdew. “We used a cultivar — or variety — with about half the amount of this chemical in it, and there are cultivars with twice as much. Also, brussels sprouts have three times as much, which would mean a cup of brussels sprouts could get us to the same level.”

Here’s a delicious Broccoli and Cheddar Soup recipe to get you started.