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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2015 May;59(5):918-26.
doi: 10.1002/mnfr.201400863. Epub 2015 Apr 7.

Diet rich in high glucoraphanin broccoli reduces plasma LDL cholesterol: Evidence from randomised controlled trials

Charlotte N Armah  1 , Christos Derdemezis, Maria H Traka, Jack R Dainty, Joanne F Doleman, Shikha Saha, Wing Leung, John F Potter, Julie A Lovegrove, Richard F Mithen
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Diet rich in high glucoraphanin broccoli reduces plasma LDL cholesterol: Evidence from randomised controlled trials

Charlotte N Armah et al. Mol Nutr Food Res. 2015 May.

Abstract

Scope: Cruciferous-rich diets have been associated with reduction in plasma LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C), which may be due to the action of isothiocyanates derived from glucosinolates that accumulate in these vegetables. This study tests the hypothesis that a diet rich in high glucoraphanin (HG) broccoli will reduce plasma LDL-C.

Methods and results: One hundred and thirty volunteers were recruited to two independent double-blind, randomly allocated parallel dietary intervention studies, and were assigned to consume either 400 g standard broccoli or 400 g HG broccoli per week for 12 weeks. Plasma lipids were quantified before and after the intervention. In study 1 (37 volunteers), the HG broccoli diet reduced plasma LDL-C by 7.1% (95% CI: -1.8%, -12.3%, p = 0.011), whereas standard broccoli reduced LDL-C by 1.8% (95% CI +3.9%, -7.5%, ns). In study 2 (93 volunteers), the HG broccoli diet resulted in a reduction of 5.1% (95% CI: -2.1%, -8.1%, p = 0.001), whereas standard broccoli reduced LDL-C by 2.5% (95% CI: +0.8%, -5.7%, ns). When data from the two studies were combined the reduction in LDL-C by the HG broccoli was significantly greater than standard broccoli (p = 0.031).

Conclusion: Evidence from two independent human studies indicates that consumption of high glucoraphanin broccoli significantly reduces plasma LDL-C.

Keywords: Broccoli; Cholesterol; Glucoraphanin; Sulforaphane.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Change in LDL-C following dietary intervention with standard broccoli [-] or high glucoraphanin broccoli [+]. Each panel shows the mean and 95% CI for the change in LDL-C as evident from paired t-tests between the baseline and post intervention LDL-C for each individual within the two dietary arms, and an ANOVA for the difference based upon a general linear model [Table 3]. (A) Study 1 (B) Study 2. (C) Combined data from Study 1 and Study 2.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The mean and 95% CI for the change in LDL-C from paired t-tests between the baseline and postintervention LDL-C for each individual within the two dietary arms within subgroups with different baseline LDL-C. The data combines that of the current study with that of Armah et al. [2014].
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