Broccoli Sprout Extract Defends Skin Cells against UV Sun Damage

Scientists from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD, are reporting that sulforaphane, a chemical extracted from broccoli sprouts, can help protect skin cells from the damaging effects of ultraviolet radiation when applied topically. Sulforaphane has been shown to counteract the carcinogenic reaction to UV rays.

The researches dosed mice with a UV light equivalent to a person sunbathing twice a week for 20 weeks. After the UV exposure, broccoli sprout extract was applied to some of the mice, in differing doses, for five days a week for an eleven week period. Some mice were not treated as a control group. At the end of the study, the mice treated with broccoli sprout extract, had a much lower incident of cancer growth. Where all of the control group of mice developed signs of cancer.

The sulforaphane was also tested by Dr Paul Talalay of Johns Hopkins University and his group on 6 healthy volunteers. At the highest doses, the sulforaphane decreased UV-induced redness and inflammation by 37 % on average.
“This is not a sunscreen,” Talalay said. Instead, the extract helped fortify skin cells to fight the effects of UV radiation. Dr. Talalay also said, “This is the first demonstration that a human tissue can be protected directly against a known human carcinogen”.

Sunscreens provide a physical barrier by absorbing and blocking UV rays, but broccoli sprout extract helps increase the production of protective enzymes that guard against UV damage. The effect of sulforaphane continues to work even after applications have stopped. Dr Talalay remarked, “Two days after we stopped treatment, there was still an effect.”

These findings are promising and paving the way for one of the first after-sun treatments that is proven to reverse sun damage. It may also be helpful to people with suppressed immune systems that are at a higher risk for skin cancer.
With skin cancer on the rise, affecting more than 1 million Americans each year, the simple broccoli sprout may hold the key to preventing needless deaths from skin cancer and may also lead to better anti-aging skin care ingredients for us all.

For more skin care information, visit http://www.better-skin-care.com