The Supplement I MADE MY PARENTS TAKE
Broc Shot can be a game-changer for the delay of age-related disease as it supports cellular health, energy, and healthspan.
Jolene Hart
Author & Editor
Hannah Went
Epigenetic Aging Expert
INTRO FAQ
What gift is meaningful enough to convey the love you have for your parents? And, let’s be honest, what gift do they really need? It sure isn’t another bathrobe or necktie. According to epigenetic aging expert Hannah Went, it could be Broc Shot, since its concentrated dose of active sulforaphane offers key protection for both physical well-being and healthspan.
Sulforaphane’s ability to support health across our lives lies in its protective influence on cellular health. Assessing the health of our cells gives us an important snapshot of how well we’re aging. We refer to this as biological age (as opposed to chronological age, the number of birthdays you’ve had).
Sulforaphane, found in cruciferous vegetables and concentrated in broccoli sprouts, targets multiple factors that threaten to prematurely advance our biological age. In doing so, says Went, it protects our healthspan, the years that we spend in good health.
“If we know that we're slowing down the biological aging process, we're going to add a multitude of years, even healthy years, at the end of our lives,” she says. “I think sulforaphane is even more important for those who are chronologically older. It all goes back to delaying the onset of disease, or making sure that disease doesn’t happen. We naturally gain a lot of inflammation as we age. We also accumulate toxic exposures and free radicals.”
That buildup of free radical damage takes a toll on cellular health over time, leading to more rapidly advancing biological age in our later years. Free radicals are a byproduct of everyday living— they’re created by metabolism, exercise, stress, and also external forces like sunlight and pollution. But as we age as our bodies lose their ability to bounce back from this continual damage.
WATCH + LEARN
SULFORAPHANE & FREE RADICALS
Sulforaphane counteracts excessive free radical damage with its potent antioxidant effects (1). “Sulforaphane’s ability to stimulate the production of antioxidant enzymes in the body really helps protect from free radical damage, which you gain as you age. That reduction in oxidative stress can reduce inflammation and potentially lower the risk of chronic diseases too,” says Went.
Free radical damage and inflammation are tightly linked, since accumulating free radicals drive up inflammation and inflammation increases free radical damage. Sulforaphane interrupts this damaging loop. Multiple studies have shown sulforaphane’s anti-inflammatory effects (2), including its ability to normalize the expression of genes related to inflammation (3). According to Went, sulforaphane also helps reduce inflammation by supporting apoptosis (4), the body’s natural removal of old cells. This translates to additional protection against inflammation-driven chronic disease.
SULFORAPHANE & DNA METHYLATION
Another way that sulforaphane slows cellular aging is through its effects on DNA methylation (5). When DNA methylation goes awry, it can fuel cancer, cardiovascular disease, and neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s. As sulforaphane helps restore balance to DNA methylation (6), it turns on the expression of protective genes and turns off the expression of damaging genes. Over time, this supports cellular health, energy, and healthspan.
THE TAKEAWAY
Longevity science continues to uncover new information that may help all of us lengthen our healthspan. Passing on that developing knowledge, including new supplements and lifestyle habits that support physical health, may be the best gift we can give to our loved ones. As Went says, “This isn’t about stopping aging. It’s about aging more gracefully. And about asking how we can add more of those healthy years to our lives.”
REVIEWS
SOURCES
1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7346151/
2. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/imcb.12686
3. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7710464/
4. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8541491/
5. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7068201/
6. https://clinicalepigeneticsjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1868-7083-3-3