So I am sprouting up a storm! It's easy! And now that I have a lot of sprouts I wonder if I need to make sprout tea or if I can just eat a cup or two of sprouts with some mustard powder (and oil and vinegar dressing) in the morning? I promise to chew 25 times per mouthful 
Should that get me a good dose of sulforaphane?
Sorry I don’t know the answer to the best way to consume your spouts.
I do know that organic broccoli sprouts supplements are expensive
Would you kindly explain briefly how you grow them yourself. 🥦
There is an abundance of great videos demonstrating this on YouTube. It’s easiest understood in a video to see the process. To learn facts about it, Dr. Rhonda Patrick if found my fitness is excellent.
Happy to explain:
1: I got broccoli sprout seeds. Had to settle for Waltham 29 cultivar for now. They are not high in sulforaphane but hey, just eat more. Broccoli Seeds for Sprouting & Microgreens amazon.com/gp/product/B07R1...
2: I got these lids. They fit wide mouth mason jars: DMCFPL Sprouting Lids, Plastic Sprout Lid for Wide Mouth Mason Jars, Easy Rinse and Drain Sprouting Screens for Growing Bean Sprouts, Broccoli, Alfalfa, Salad Sprouts - 6 Pack, Yellow amazon.com/gp/product/B08RW...
3: Now this is the hard part: I found 32 oz wide mouth mason jars. This is not canning season. I looked online and they were non-existent. I did see some were are Walmart, but when I went to the Walmart I could not find the wide mouth 32 oz and did not want to try wide mouth 16 oz. I ended up near a Target and went inside and found one flat (12 jars) of wide mouth 32 oz mason jars for $13 so I am set!
4: Wash your jar and lid.
5: Put 2 tablespoons of seeds into the jar and put the yellow lid on. Put a few inches of water in the jar and rinse the seeds and then put a few inches of water in again. Make sure as you add water you get all the seeds to the bottom of the jar. Put the jar in the dark for 8 hours.
6: Rinse the seeds twice a day. No need to ever take the sprouting lid off the jar. Have fun with the rinsing. Fill the jar half full of water and slosh it around and pour the water out and shake it. Then set the jar upside down at an angle for about 15 minutes using the cool sprouting lid. After 15 minutes you can turn the jar back over and shake it and roll it so a lot of the seeds stick to the side of the jar and set the jar upright or on the side. Have fun with it.
7: After about 4 days you will have a mass of sprouts. I'm not great yet about knowing when they are done, but the earlier you harvest the more sulforaphane. I would err on harvesting early.
8: The videos show people rinsing the sprouts to get the husks off. I do not bother with that. I do give them a last jar rinse before harvesting.
9: Some people freeze them, but I eat them fast enough I don't need to. I hear freezing them might get you more sulforaphane but I am iffy on that. I just put some paper towels or coffee filters in the bottom of a flat tupaware container and put them in there in the fridge. They last at least 5 days (or they would last that long if I did not eat them so fast.
I think (Bolt, the High School graduate) that it is important to eat them before 11 AM (if you are eating enough to get a dose of sulforaphane). Sulforaphane boosts Nrf2 which boosts your circadian rhythm and the circadian rhythm peaks at about 2 PM so I don't think you want to boost it on the downstroke.
Thanks Bolt and matcharoe ( formally cclemon). Two of my favorites
Just checked have a dozen , wide mouth ball jars, left over from summer’s harvest. Guess I’m a winter farmer too. Thanks I’d better get started, running out of my expensive broccoli sprout supplement.
Wow even a recommendation when to eat them.
By the way Bolt I have a son whose 21, that didn’t want to go to college. Another smarty pants like you. Thanks for your help.
Thanks. I really aim for before 10 AM. 11 AM is about the latest I would ever go.
Good job on raising a smart son!
I now have the courage to grow sprouts Ty
If you join Marc's MBAnderson 's Zoom calls, we talk about sprouts quite often.
Thank you Bolt! I have read that heating them to 70 degrees for 10 minutes can double the sulforaphane. Video : how to increase sulforaphane by 3.5 times
Great job Bolt! Just a little comment - I would avoid placing your beautiful healthy sprouts on paper towels as they contain some toxins which can contaminate sprouts. Unbleached coffee filter would be a better choice. I keep my sprouts (drained but with no paper lining) in the sprouting jar in refrigerator and they hold up pretty well for a few days.Thank you for sharing your experience in such detail and happy sprouting!
how do you stand their bitter taste?!
I like them!
lucky!!
Bolt, do you know if putting oil on the sprouts diminishes the sulforaphane? I have been eating them with olive oil but maybe that’s messing up the important chemical process?
I don't know. It is a good question. I love that we are deep diving to improve each protocol. We will find these answers.
I think I will go back to heating mine up with some kettle water so I can double the sulforaphane. I love them with oil and vinegar and mustard, but I guess I should aim higher. I wish I had an easy way to blend it up hot.
How hot do you go? I have read that you should not exceed 70 degrees bc it changes the sulfuraphane to a type / form that is different. I am vowing to start organizing my notes. The mustard should increase the bio availability I think. Pepperine (cracked pepper should). The oil though, I’m not sure. A fat is needed for transresveratrol , curcumin etc to be absorbed in an amount that makes a difference. I want to right to Dr. Rhonda Patrick and ask.
Bolt, we will find answers. This is so multifaceted. To think a “cure” is going to arrive in the form is just silly. We need to approach this from every angle to bring our whole being as close to homeostasis as we can.
Did you see the Laurie Mischley video I posted about fungus being greater in the PD population she tested?
So, the way I understand it is:
Go to 100 degrees for 5 minutes. This will kill the endogenous myrosinase and it also deactivates something called ESP that interferes with sulforaphane generation. ESP is the target, endogenous myrosinase is collateral damage.
When it cools down to 60 degrees you mix in maybe an eighth of a teaspoon of ground raw yellow or white mustard as exogenous myrosinase. Let it steep for 10 minutes and you should have a mug full of sulforaphane.
When I used freeze dried sprouts this was easy. With fresh sprouts I worry the sprouts are not breaking down in the hot water and I may need to run them through a blender. Still working that out.
Thank you for re-explaining. 😊
Yes, I had seen the fungus among us video. That is part of the reason I use Zeolite and S Boulardii. And yes, we need to attack from all angles!
But how can you cleanse and add nutrients at the same time? Aren’t any nutrients being wiped out by the zeolite?
My plan is to only do Zeolite periodically. 1 month, 3 times a year. But I am so on the fence on Zeolite. Every day I consider cutting it from my stack.
You have to tell yourself - bitter is better! According to this article:recent studies now confirm that bitter foods can enhance digestive health, sharpen the appetite, aid in the prevention of leaky gut syndrome, optimize nutrient absorption, improve the gut microbiome and more.
draxe.com/nutrition/bitter-...
haha, pretty good mantra i do like bitters as a digestive aid... quick and easy!! i last put the broccoli sprouts into some soup, was a bit more manageable that way.
this is a product a friend of mine swears by.... very steep in price though but could be worth it for some:
Bolt,
Sulforaphane and melatonin are synergistic together for neuroprotection :
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/labs/pmc/a...
It could be called Meloraphane, Melogluco or Sulforatonin!!
Melatonin doesn't stop there either. It makes Broccoli into super broccoli with more sulforaphane and glucoraphanin :
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/316...
This seems like a great area for further research that applies directly to PD in more ways than one!
Art
Interesting. So they are combining Sulforaphane and Melatonin and also treating broccoli sprouts with melatonin:
"Background and Purpose
Neurodegenerative diseases are a major problem afflicting ageing populations; however, there are no effective treatments to stop their progression. Oxidative stress and neuroinflammation are common factors in their pathogenesis. Nuclear factor (erythroid-derived 2)-like 2 (Nrf2) is the master regulator of oxidative stress, and melatonin is an endogenous hormone with antioxidative properties that reduces its levels with ageing. We have designed a new compound that combines the effects of melatonin with Nrf2 induction properties, with the idea of achieving improved neuroprotective properties.
Experimental Approach
Compound ITH12674 is a hybrid of melatonin and sulforaphane designed to exert a dual drug–prodrug mechanism of action. We obtained the proposed hybrid in a single step. To test its neuroprotective properties, we used different in vitro models of oxidative stress related to neurodegenerative diseases and brain ischaemia.
Key Results
ITH12674 showed an improved neuroprotective profile compared to that of melatonin and sulforaphane. ITH12674 (i) mediated a concentration-dependent protective effect in cortical neurons subjected to oxidative stress; (ii) decreased reactive oxygen species production; (iii) augmented GSH concentrations in cortical neurons; (iv) enhanced the Nrf2–antioxidant response element transcriptional response in transfected HEK293T cells; and (v) protected organotypic cultures of hippocampal slices subjected to oxygen and glucose deprivation and re-oxygenation from stress by increasing the expression of haem oxygenase-1 and reducing free radical production.
Conclusion and Implications
ITH12674 combines the signalling pathways of the parent compounds to improve its neuroprotective properties. This opens a new line of research for such hybrid compounds to treat neurodegenerative diseases."
Perplexing because one is suppose to be taken in the PM and the other the AM. So, sulfuraphane, is the most important NRF2 activator , defense against oxidative stress.
While melatonin is one of the strongest antioxidants.
But is taking them together increasing the benefit of each? I don’t see how or why that would be.
Brings to mind other combos that are compelling to market together. D3 and K2 which I believe ideally should not be taken together bc it reduces the absorption of the K2
Melatonin up regulates gene expression of many of the bodies own potent antioxidants including glutathione peroxidase, glutathione, Superoxide Dismutase and Catalase, it up regulates Nrf2 expression while down regulating KEAP1 which increases total antioxidant capacity (TAC) in the body which is insufficient in PwP, melatonin scavenges reactive oxygen species, reactive nitrogen species as well as peroxynitrite all of which are at elevated levels in PD, it neutralizes H2O2, it can neutralize up to 10 oxygen radicals whereas vitamin c and e can only neutralize one or two radicals each. Melatonin or it's metabolites can repair a perturbed blood brain barrier (BBB) while easily crossing the BBB itself. Melatonin levels decline sharply with age and may partially help explain why PD is an age related disease.
On top of that, melatonin levels are even lower in PwP compared to non PwP. Melatonin is produced right in the mitochondria and if demand increases beyond production capacity in the mitochondria, the mitochondria can draw melatonin from outside of the mitochondria if there is enough melatonin available, but unfortunately, because of decreased melatonin levels in PwP, there may not be sufficient melatonin available to draw into the mitochondria and then mitochondrial damage is inevitable. Think about this for a moment, why would mitochondria need to generate melatonin from within? I think the reason is because oxidative damage occurs rapidly and in order to limit this damage to tolerable levels, you need a highly potent antioxidant immediately and closely available in the mitochondria to scavenge these radicals instantaneously as they are produced and before they do excessive damage. Unfortunately because of the intense oxidative stress placed on the mitochondria in PD, native melatonin in the mitochondria becomes depleted and melatonin levels outside of the mitochondria are insufficient to be of much help as melatonin levels decline with age.
This is a slow damage process that plays out over a decade or two prior to PD symptoms becoming noticeable, so melatonin does a very good job for many many years in quelling these excess oxidative stress levels in the mitochondria, but once melatonin levels decline beyond sufficiency, the damage to the mitochondria and reduction of ATP gets excessive, the damage to the mitochondria and dopaminergic neurons occurs at a much quicker rate.
You also have to consider that in this instance, we are only looking at what is going on in the Substantia Nigra pars compacta, but the depleted melatonin levels throughout the body are allowing damage to such things as the heart which can potentially explain or partially explain why heart disease and stroke are at increased risk in PwP as I have previously written about on the forum.
Some of this is theory, but most of it is fact, but this is only a partial explanation of why I believe melatonin can be extremely useful for PwP and especially when applied early at a high enough dose.
Adding the health benefits of Sulforaphane and its different mechanisms of action to the multitude of health effects already established for melatonin is a potent combination for health promotion in general and for neuroprotection in particular and their study reaches a similar conclusion. Both have very good safety profiles. Melatonin has already shown benefit in three PwP/Melatonin studies at higher dosing of 10mg and 50 mg.
Their study conclusion was :
ITH12674 combines the signaling pathways of the parent compounds to improve its neuroprotective properties. This opens a new line of research for such hybrid compounds to treat neurodegenerative diseases."
Art
Recommended sources for high quality broccoli seeds for sprouting?
