Individuals suffering from psychiatric diseases often have accompanying cognitive impairment. Examples of psychiatric diseases include; schizophrenia, autism, major depression, generalized anxiety, post-traumatic stress and bipolar.
Several studies (including Carrión et al 2011) conducted on young adults and adolescents who were deemed to be at risk for psychosis showed the presence of cognitive impairment prior to the onset of psychotic symptoms. These findings indicate that early intervention can prevent the onset of psychosis during adulthood.
So is there any food and nutrition advice that can help prevent the onset of these symptoms. As children we were often told “Eat your broccoli!” This green vegetable has many reputed health benefits; see smartphone health app Apple A Day RX.
Cruciferous vegetables including broccoli contain sulforaphane (SFN) which an isothiocyanate. SFN is regarded to be a potent activator of Nrf2 transcription factor. The neuroprotective functions of Nrf2 have been well documented.
A key finding from a 2015 reserach study by Sirai et al indicated that consumption of glucoraphanin (a precursor of SFN) in juvenile and adolescence mice prevented the onset of PCP-induced cognitive deficits as well as the increase in 8-oxo-dG-positive cells and the decrease in PV-positive cells in the brain at adulthood.
Further analysis of NRF2 and KEAP1 genes was conducted with 183 patients with schizophrenia and 385 healthy subjects. The analysis by Sirai’s team concluded that there is a biological interaction between the NRF2 and KEAP1 proteins.
These findings suggest that the Keap1—Nrf2 system may play a role in the cognitive impairment that is observed in schizophrenia. The possibility arises that SFN, an activator of Nrf2, may have preventive and/or therapeutic effects on cognitive impairment in patients with psychiatric diseases such as schizophrenia and therefore it follows that ‘SFN’ may also be a viable therapeutic target.
The smartphone health app Apple A Day RX provides many examples of food and nutrition advice for many common ailments. This latest 2015 research study indicates that dietary intake of SFN-rich broccoli sprouts during the juvenile and adolescence may prevent the onset of psychosis at adulthood.
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