Science

Almost a decade spent of clinical studies underlining the claims of our product

Isothiocyanates are unstable and quickly decaying natural compounds found in living cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli sprouts, which when ingested, deliver effects such as decreased oxidative stress as well as lowered lactate, during sub-maximal workouts.  

Over seven years of research at Karolinska Institutet (KI) and the Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences (GIH) in Stockholm, has resulted in successful stabilisation of isothiocyanates, enabling production of a potent performance drink equivalent of 3 kilograms of freshly harvested broccoli.

Significant publication: Glucosinolate-rich broccoli sprouts protect against oxidative stress and improve adaptations to intense exercise training

Oxidative stress & nrf2 activation

Within the research community it's long been established that isothiocyanates found in cruciferous vegetables interact with the body in a number of ways. A previously well-researched interaction was the activation of the nrf-2 system in the body - a regulator of antioxidative enzymes produced in the body.

The original research hypothesis was that this anti-oxidative effect would also be useful for people conducting intense exercise. It is well-established that antioxidants can protect muscles during intense exercise - therefore it wasn’t farfetched that oxidative stress would be decreased. In addition, due to the high bioavailability of isothiocyanates compared to other potential nrf2-activators (~75% vs 1-2%), the effect was hypothesized to be strong.

In the research papers now published by Filip Larsen, and other independent researchers, it's becoming more clear how isothiocyanates regulate oxidative stress.

Significant publication: Eat Your Broccoli: Oxidative Stress, NRF2, and Sulforaphane in Chronic Kidney Disease

Lower lactate as an indicator of reduced physical stress

If protection against oxidative stress was a key hypothesis for early studies on isothiocyanates, reduced lactate during sub-max workout was less expected. The isothiocyanates present in glucosinolate-rich broccoli sprouts show indications of reducing lactate by 12% on average in early studies conducted by Michaela Sundquist at GIH, during similar sub-max training tests.

Lactate is the primary proxy scientists and athletes alike use for measuring physiological stress achieved during exercise and correlates strongly to performance. By producing a lower amount of lactate, for a fixed training session, all else equal, the body will recover faster, allowing you to tolerate more training.

Today, many of our most famous endurance athletes use lactate daily as an indicator of what intensity they should train at. By having lactate spike only moderately during training, they can optimize the intensity of their training without risking overtraining or injuries.

Significant publication: Nrf2 Activation Enhances Muscular MCT1 Expression and Hypoxic Exercise Capacity

Other research on isothiocyanates,
broccoli sprouts & cruciferous vegetables

The basic properties of isothiocyanates, and the positive effects associated with ingesting broccoli and broccoli sprouts has been well documented for over 30 years. In addition to the novel research done at KI and GIH on their impact on improvements of physical adaption to intense exercise, there are indications that like the following:

(1) Prevent muscle atrophy in aging
(2) Protect against liver damage from alcohol consumption
(3) Detoxification of airborne pollutants (smog) in city dwellers

Many of today's studies on isothiocyanates refer to Sulforaphane, the most well-known strain of the group. nomio's I-6 contains a wide variety of isothiocyanate strains, with many less known varieties that we can only hope to know more about in the future.

Most important publications

(1)Protective effects of sulforaphane and aerobic exercise on acute alcoholic hepatic injury in mice
(2)Sulforaphane Inhibits Exhaustive Exercise-Induced Liver Injury and Transcriptome-Based Mechanism Analysis
(3)Oral chronic sulforaphane effects on heavy resistance exercise: Implications for inflammatory and muscle damage parameters in young practitioners
(4)Effect of a sulforaphane supplement on muscle soreness and damage induced by eccentric exercise in young adults: A pilot study
(5)Nuclear factor (erythroid derived 2)-like 2 activation increases exercise endurance capacity via redox modulation in skeletal muscles
(6)Sulforaphane treatment protects skeletal muscle against damage induced by exhaustive exercise in rats
(7)Sulforaphane prevents age-associated cardiac and muscular dysfunction through Nrf2 signaling
(8)Dose-dependent detoxication of the airborne pollutant benzene in a randomized trial of broccoli sprout beverage in Qidong, China
(9)A phase II study of sulforaphane-rich broccoli sprout extracts in men with recurrent prostate cancer

Research conducted and supervised by
globally leading nutritional scientists

The group of scientists behind the research on isothiocyanates was founded at Karolinska Institute in 2009, when Filip Larsen joined as a M.Sc. student on Jon and Eddie’s groundbreaking research on nitrate.

After several years of collaboration, Filip transferred to the Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences (GIH), where his research has been focused on exercise adaptations and muscle physiology in elite athletes

Filip Larsen

Research Originator

Docent, Institution of Physiology, Nutrition and Biomechanics

Swedish School of Sports and Health Sciences

Michaela Sundqvist

Researcher

Post-doc, Institution of Physiology, Nutrition and Biomechanics

Swedish School of Sports and Health Sciences

Jon Lundberg

Scientific Advisor

Professor of Pharmacology

Karolinska Institute

Eddie Weitzberg