Wednesday, November 1, 2017

Broccoli vs. Type 2 Diabetes


An article published on ScienceDaily explained a recent study done on the effects of broccoli against diabetes, specifically type 2. Diabetes is a disease affecting blood glucose levels. This disease can lead to other health issues later down the line, especially if left untreated. Metformin is a commonly prescribed medication that helps with keeping blood glucose levels under control. However, due to side affects and risks, many patients suffering from type 2 diabetes cannot take it. Annika Axelsson and a team conducted the experiment to find what may reverse the gene expression changes that are causing type 2 diabetes. "The researchers constructed a signature for type 2 diabetes based on 50 genes, then used publically available expression datasets to screen 3,852 compounds for drugs that potentially reverse disease." During their study, they found that the most potent and useful chemical was sulforaphane, which happens to be found in broccoli (also kale, cauliflower, cabbage, etc). This chemical "tamped down glucose production by liver cells growing in culture, and shifted liver gene expression away from a diseased state in diabetic rats." For Axelsson's study, 97 type 2 diabetes patients were used to conduct the 12 week placebo-control experiment with broccoli sprouts. The obese patients partaking in the study showed immensely lowered fasting blood sugar levels compared to those taking the control. The development of gene signatures for studies of gene expression seemed to be an extremely successful method of operation in this experiment. My grandfather suffers from diabetes, as well as many other people that I know. They take medication after medication daily to keep their glucose levels under control. I understand that medication can be useful for certain things, but I believe that science has so many more creative things up its sleeves to replace the medications. Broccoli has been scientifically proven to do the same thing that a medication does. Who knows, maybe in a few decades from now medicine will have an entirely knew face (veggies)!

3 comments:

  1. Its exciting to see that something as easy as broccoli is an excellent medication for fighting type 2 diabetes and can make the daily hassle of taking medications much more simple.

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  2. This is such an amazing finding. Who would have thought that such a simple (or maybe not so simple) vegetable could have such a huge impact on someone with type 2 diabetes. I know a couple people that have this disease so I know I will be telling them next time I see them that broccoli could assist their daily medications and better their life.

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  3. I love this article and your opinion in the future, medicine will involve veggie in it. Right now, many of our medicine contain side effects and allergic reaction. Thus, by finding more about the "natural" medicine in veggies and fruits or other natural plants will help with the medical field and the consumers. Also, it will help out with the environment as well, since people will be using more of these plant, more company will starts growing it.

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