Abstract
Diet and lifestyle choices contribute to obesity and liver disease. Broccoli, a brassica vegetable, may mitigate negative effects of both diet and lifestyle. Currently, there are no clinically relevant, established molecular biomarkers that reflect variability in human absorption of brassica bioactives, which may be the cause of variability/inconsistencies in health benefits in the human population. Here, we focused on the plasma metabolite profile and composition of the gut microbiome in rats, a relatively homogenous population in terms of gut microbiota, genetics, sex and diet, to determine if changes in the plasma metabolite profiles caused by dietary broccoli relate to molecular changes in liver. Our aim was to identify plasma indicators that reflect how liver health is impacted by dietary broccoli. Rats were fed a 10% broccoli diet for 14 days. We examined the plasma metabolite composition by metabolomics analysis using GC–MS and gut microbiota using 16S sequencing after 0, 1, 2, 4, 7, 14 days of broccoli feeding. We identified 25 plasma metabolites that changed with broccoli consumption, including metabolites associated with hepatic glutathione synthesis, and with de novo fatty acid synthesis. Glutamine, stearic acid, and S-methyl-L-cysteine (SMC) relative abundance changes correlated with changes in gut bacteria previously implicated in metabolic disease and with validated increases in expression of hepatic NAD(P)H dehydrogenase [quinone] 1 (NQO1) and nuclear factor (erythroid-derived 2)-like 2 (Nrf2), associated with elevated hepatic glutathione synthesis. Circulating biomarkers following broccoli consumption reflect gut–liver axis health.
Highlights
The sale of broccoli, a brassica vegetable, has shown substantial growth in the food market over the past 20 years [1,2,3], due, in part, to news of health promotion associated with dietary broccoli.Epidemiological studies report that incorporating brassica into our daily diets can decrease cancer risk at several sites, including bladder, breast, prostate, and colon [4,5,6,7]
We took advantage of a homogenous population of rats and focused on plasma metabolite changes that might be developed as biomarkers for a healthy liver and evaluated whether this might relate to changes in the intestinal microbiota (IM) upon broccoli feeding for 4 days or more
We found earlier instances where these two metabolites had been associated with changes in hepatic GSH status, again supporting the possibility of their acting as biomarkers of the impact of broccoli feeding on liver health
Summary
The sale of broccoli, a brassica vegetable, has shown substantial growth in the food market over the past 20 years [1,2,3], due, in part, to news of health promotion associated with dietary broccoli.Epidemiological studies report that incorporating brassica into our daily diets can decrease cancer risk at several sites, including bladder, breast, prostate, and colon [4,5,6,7]. Nutrients 2020, 12, 2514 the American Institute for Cancer Research rarely promote the health benefits of broccoli. The cause of this variability in findings may relate to the dose consumed and fraction of sulforaphane (SF) absorbed from a single serving, which can vary 20-fold or more; the differences in preparation and freshness, which impact the glucoraphanin (GRP) hydrolyzing enzyme myrosinase [9]; and variation in intestinal microbiota (IM) composition of the subjects [10], which is responsible for ITC production when cooked broccoli is consumed. We demonstrated that when rats consume cooked broccoli daily for 4 days or more, this alters the IM, increasing the daily ITC produced by the IM, since without active myrosinase, more GSL passes into the colon [11]
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