Current Knowledge on the Preparation and Benefits of Cruciferous Vegetables as Relates to In Vitro, In Vivo, and Clinical Models of Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

Inflammatory bowel disease is a chronic condition with a significant economic and social burden. The disease is complex and challenging to treat because it involves several pathologies, such as inflammation, oxidative stress, dysbiosis, and intestinal damage. The search for an effective treatment has identified cruciferous vegetables and their phytochemicals as potential management options for inflammatory bowel disease because they contain prebiotics, probiotics, and anti-inflammatory and antioxidant metabolites essential for a healthy gut.

Early life exposure to broccoli sprouts confers stronger protection against enterocolitis development in an immunological mouse model of inflammatory bowel disease.

To our knowledge, IL-10-KO mice have not previously been used to investigate the interactions of host, microbiota, and broccoli, broccoli sprouts, or broccoli bioactives in resolving symptoms of CD. We showed that a diet containing 10% raw broccoli sprouts increased the plasma concentration of the anti-inflammatory compound sulforaphane and protected mice to varying degrees against disease symptoms, including weight loss or stagnation, fecal blood, and diarrhea. Younger mice responded more strongly to the diet, further reducing symptoms, as well as increased gut bacterial richness, increased bacterial community similarity to each other, and more location-specific communities than older mice on the diet intervention.

Steamed broccoli sprouts alleviate DSS-induced inflammation and retain gut microbial biogeography in mice.

Evaluating bacterial communities across different locations in the gut provides a greater insight than fecal samples alone and provides an additional metric by which to evaluate beneficial host-microbe interactions. Here, we show that 10% steamed broccoli sprouts in the diet protects mice from the negative effects of dextran sodium sulfate-induced colitis, that colitis erases biogeographic patterns of bacterial communities in the gut, and that the cecum is not likely to be a significant contributor to colonic bacteria of interest in the DSS mouse model of ulcerative colitis. Mice fed the broccoli sprout diet during colitis performed better than mice fed the control diet while receiving DSS.

Steamed broccoli sprouts alleviate DSS-induced inflammation and retain gut microbial biogeography in mice.

Unlabelled: Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD) are devastating conditions of the gastrointestinal tract with limited treatments, and dietary intervention may be effective, and affordable, for managing symptoms. Glucosinolate compounds are highly concentrated in broccoli sprouts, especially glucoraphanin, and can be metabolized by certain mammalian gut bacteria into anti inflammatory isothiocyanates, such as sulforaphane. Gut microbiota exhibit biogeographic patterns, but it is unknown if colitis alters these or whether the location of glucoraphanin metabolizing bacteria affects anti-inflammatory benefits.

Early life exposure to broccoli sprouts confers stronger protection against enterocolitis development in an immunological mouse model of inflammatory bowel disease.

Crohn's Disease (CD) is a presentation of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) that manifests in childhood and adolescence, and involves chronic and severe enterocolitis, immune and gut microbiome dysregulation, and other complications. Diet and gut-microbiota-produced metabolites are sources of anti-inflammatories which could ameliorate symptoms. However, questions remain on how IBD influences biogeographic patterns of microbial location and function in the gut, how early life transitional gut communities are affected by IBD and diet interventions, and how disruption to biogeography alters disease mediation by diet components or microbial metabolites.