Interesting. Thanks for posting this.

Thanks. Will have to research this.

Can't hurt to eat more broccoli, sprouts or otherwise.

Sorry alisande, but a check with both Wikipedia and Web MD suggests a lack of evidence demonstrating the effectiveness of this substance for any medical use.

If there were truly a "miracle" cure for all our breathing problems, our allergists and pulmonologists would be aware of this. No, they are NOT keeping this info from us because they are "in the hands of" the drug companies - no doctor is these days. No, it's not because they haven't been taught this in med school. It's because it's just plain not true. Would that it were...

Rob, that reaction is baloney. An absence of evidence is an absence. "What if" something isn't how it works.

Rob makes a LOT more sense than you do, Elmer, with your silly sources. Try the NIH.

And Anglophilia, you're rude. Someone shared some recently-acquired information she thought might be useful to someone, and your response (obviously without any research on your part) is to flatly state--in a rather hostile manner--that it isn't true. Nice going.

Reading further online about broccoli sprouts/extract, I learned it has anti-cancer properties as well. Not surprising, considering how valuable sulfur is for our health. I'm hoping it will help my Lyme symptoms. In any case, it can't hurt to do some sprouting.

Sorry you took my comments as "rude". But having struggled with breathing problems for decades and having seen some of the best specialists in the country, I know where I'm going to put my faith and it's not in "snake oil" salesmen. I do take Vit D at the recommendation of my doctors, and also caffeine-free Green Tea Extract. It is known to help with inflammation which is my enemy. But I take these not because I read about them online - my doctors recommended them to me.

I know so many people who try to self-medicate with all these "natural" things instead of going to a GOOD doctor. It never serves them well.

I have breathing issues too. And I see some of the best in the country. Why not sprouts along with a great doctor? It's not like there is one way to do this sort of thing. It was more that you come across as seeing one way and one way only. No one said they were quitting their medications and medical advice, regardless of what you know. It does sound like you would serve yourself well by not running around with a crowd who self medicates. Not everyone is like that.

"Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food." If it works for Hippocrates...

I keep meaning to sprout but don't get around to it. I am home today and have the weekend. Small goals.

I, too, believe that deficiencies will rob you of your health.

This is like the creationism/Darwinism debate, which needn't be a debate. Why not both? indeed! Only now are doctors beginning to acknowledge the painful side-effects (for loads of people) of statins. Many recipients of the drug knew this, but doctors insisted it wasn't so.

The NIH's PubMed is a catalog of work published anywhere done by anyone. It's not an endorsement or acknowledgement of the NIH, anymore than a business's listing in the phone book is an endorsement or recommendation by the phone company.

Darwinism vs creationism isn't a debate, because the first is proven beyond a doubt and the second is fantasy and nonsense.

Wow, that's super insulting, Elmer, because that's a religious belief. My point is, many of us believe they are one and the same.

No insult intended, sjerin. If you accept creationism in your religious beliefs, fine, but I don't think it has any relevance in a secular conversation about science. There is no debate to have.

Sigh, you don't seem to understand what I'm saying.

Well,I have numerous issues with health,and with all chemical drugs.

My own doctor whom I have been seeing for 40 years has finally come around to a "different" way of thinking.

"Science" tells us as doctors,he says-but YOU and the way you react to so much tells us totally different.

I would more than likely take the likes of broccoli sprouts quicker than I ever would a medication just because it works for others.

I have had to use Homeopathy now for well over 30 years......all based on naturals and their methods.

Its not hokey-it actually works-or at the very least,it does for me....at least a damn site better than anything on the market-drug wise.

Bring on the sprouts.

I'm glad it "works" for but homeopathy was unmasked as being bogus ages ago. The potions are so diluted as to not have a detectable presence of the so-called active ingredients. That's part of why it's permitted to continue, it's not dangerous other than patients being at risk by not receiving real treatment by a real doctor.

I'm curious, I've heard that many Canadians have no prescription drug insurance. I'd imagine that those having to pay the full cost of drugs would face an economic discouragement to take them at all.

Ont_gal, I've had excellent results with homeopathy too. Probably the most dramatic success was when I took my daughter Gillian to a group of homeopaths (all board-certified MDs, BTW) when she was 10 years old to see if anything could be done about the debilitating migraines she'd suffered with since age 4. They interviewed her for a long time (I was present), then spoke with their homeopathic pharmacist. The result was a one-dose "constitutional remedy" that completely eliminated the migraines.

Dh's mother and father had 12 children who grew up in a very small village in India with a tiny income. All of them survived. Do you think they used Western doctors and pharmaceuticals? Eastern (homeopathic) medicine is NOT hokum.

I hope you're not suggesting that the depravations of a rural Third World village is a standard anyone should strive to experience today in America. People there would love to have modern medicine to turn to if it were available.

Sjerin, the three board-certified physicians I mentioned above (internal medicine, internal medicine/cardiology, and psychiatry) were Americans who went to med school in the U.S. and then studied extensively in India. They were practicing homeopaths whose first recommendation was always ayurvedic/homeopathic whenever possible.

Almost all physicians are board certified, that's the result of completing a residency.

Me, I prefer docs who have done residencies at prominent places. If additional training following a residency is done, a fellowship is a better way to spend time before starting to practice than chasing gurus in India, in my opinion. To each his/her own choice.

I have a childhood friend who, after a 30 year career as a surgeon, decided he was bored and wanted to do something different. He joined an "alternative" practice containing a variety of practitioners. After 2 years, he returned to being a surgeon, finding nothing to his liking in the alternative practice.

I prefer a balancing act between traditional and alternative medicine. I agree there are many dangerous alternative practices, but I also think there are many beneficial ones. If I want to try a new supplement or health practice, I run it by my doctor first, who will offer advice and monitor my health.

I'm very grateful for modern science/medicine, but I also think a vast majority of our medical problems are lifestyle-related. Not many doctors I've gone to have ever addressed lifestyle but instead just prescribe medications. That's where I think alternative approaches can be beneficial.

http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=31481

Sulforaphane vs. Autism: While looking for further information about broccoli sprout extract and Lyme, I found this report from Johns Hopkins:

Promise in Treating Autism