Plant antioxidants also fight inflammation

At any given moment, our cells are bombarded by stresses from many different sources. Oxygen that we breathe forms dangerously reactive free radicals, ultraviolet wavelengths from the sun damages cellular DNA, and we inadvertently come in contact with other toxic chemicals through our food, water and air.

Our cells have in turn evolved many methods to defend themselves from being killed off by these stresses.

Recent research in the lab of Paul Talalay at the Hopkins medical school has found that the processes that protect our cells from these everyday threats are closely linked with cellular processes that protect our cells from chronic diseases such as Parkinson's and arteriosclerosis.

Talalay's previous research has shown, to the delight of children everywhere, that a compound called sulphoraphane, which is abundant in broccoli, cabbage and Brussels sprouts, can jump-start proteins that expel carcinogens - cancer-causing agents - from cells.

Some of these enzymes work by deactivating harmful forms of oxygen or by making small molecule antioxidants themselves.

"These catalysts normally operate at a fraction of their maximal capacity, but can be boosted or induced to much higher levels by a variety of chemical agents, many of which are components of commonly-eaten plant foods," Talalay said.

Now it appears that these plant components also help suppress the cell's inflammatory response. "The same agents, both naturally-occurring and synthetic, that boost the enzymes concerned with cellular protection also block the inflammatory responses of cells," he said.

For every compound that Talalay and his research team looked at that induced protective enzymes, that compound also suppressed inflammation in the cells.

Inflammation in the short term causes redness and swelling at a paper cut or fever in a person with an infection. Normally, it is a healthy response that strengthens our immune system where our body needs it the most to kill off microscopic invaders.

However, the inflammation response can backfire. Sniffling and itchy eyes in hay fever victims are examples. In the long term, inflammation can contribute to many health complications.

Cancer cells, for example, harness normal cells involved in inflammation to help them invade and spread to other tissues.

"Inflammation is now considered to be a central part of all chronic diseases, including aging," Talalay said. "The same pathological processes are involved in aging as in skin cancer and neurodegenerative diseases."

Neurodegenerative diseases include Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and macular degeneration, which causes blindness.

The exact causal link between suppressing inflammation and protection against environmental toxins has not been closely studied before this, but Talalay and his research team found a very close correlation between the two.

In other words, suppressing inflammation is just another way for these proteins to protect our cells, and we can help the proteins do their job by having a diet high in certain vegetables.

Will broccoli sprouts be a cure for cancer or aging? No, Talalay said: "This is one milestone in a long effort to understand how we can protect ourselves from chronic diseases."