By Karen Kier, Pharmacist on behalf of the ONU HealthWise team

Veggie Tales is an American Christian animation project created by Phil Vischer and Mike Nawrocki. The computer-generated show features various fruits and vegetables that retell stories from the Bible. I loved watching these features with my daughter when she was a child and I remember singing some of the silly songs in the car.

The show started in 1993 and has had success through 2017 with shows on NBC and Netflix. In 2008, The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything: A Veggies Tales Movie was released and it had some funny songs that made us laugh. Larry and Bob were the two featured animated characters. Bob was the tomato who hosted the shows while the cucumber co-host was famous for his Silly Songs with Larry features. A less recognizable character was Frankenbroccoli who was in the show When Does Junior Daydream? This episode was uploaded to YouTube on October 12, 2015.  

So, you might wonder why I am talking about vegetables and specifically broccoli? A news report came out this week highlighting studies by Johns Hopkins’ researchers that explored the benefits of broccoli in reducing COVID-19. Nutrition, including fruits and vegetables, has been linked to improve health outcomes for many different chronic diseases including heart disease and cancer. The focus has been on the benefits of their antioxidant properties. 

However, Johns Hopkins is researching a chemical in broccoli known as sulforaphane. Scientists and nutritionists have been aware of the health benefits of sulforaphane for many years. Sulforaphane is not unique to broccoli but can be found in many cruciferous vegetables including cabbage, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, and kale. Sulforaphane needs to be activated from its parent compound of glucoraphanin. A family of enzymes known as myrosinase are released upon damage to the plant. This means that cruciferous vegetables need to be cut, chopped, or chewed to release the enzyme and activate sulforaphane. Studies completed prior to the Johns Hopkins publication found evidence that broccoli and glucoraphanin in high doses (given as capsules in a German study) could reduce cases of severe COVID-19 after infection.  

The researchers hypothesize that the glucoraphanin/sulforaphane inhibits a pathway in the body that is responsible for inflammation. By blocking this pathway during a COVID-19 infection, it may help reduce inflammation and severity of disease. Interestingly, an early study published in 2021 evaluated severity of COVID-19 throughout the world and noted lower death rates in countries that traditionally had diets with fermented vegetables including cabbage and some additional spices with anti-inflammatory properties. These spices included allicin (in garlic), capsaicin (hot peppers), curcumin (turmeric), gingerol (fresh ginger), mustard oil (essential oil from mustard seeds), piperine (alkaloid in black pepper), and quercetin. Further research into the nutritional aspects found that a fermented cabbage food known as kimchi had protective effects against death from COVID-19 during the initial outbreak of infections in Korea.  Lactobacillus bacteria can be found in the GI tract and is considered a probiotic. This probiotic is commonly found in yogurt, as well as over the counter supplements. Some fermented foods contain lactobacillus including kimchi. This probiotic has been shown in the animal model to reduce the severity of COVID-19.  

This gets us to the most recent Johns Hopkins study. For several decades, the researchers at Johns Hopkins have been studying the protective effects of sulforaphane for both cancer and infections. Past studies have evaluated broccoli seeds and sprouts, as well as the mature plant. In studies prior to COVID-19, sulforaphane showed benefit in reducing the common cold. With the COVID-19 pandemic, the research team changed its focus to evaluate the SARS-CoV-2 virus. On March 18, the researchers published a study in the journal Communications Biology reporting results of cellular and animal studies. The initial research focused on exposing SARS-CoV-2 virus cells to doses of a purified, synthetic sulforaphane purchased from chemical suppliers. The lab study showed a 50% reduction in the ability of the virus to replicate or reproduce including the Delta and Omicron variants. The research continued with an analysis of dosing sulforaphane in a mouse model infected with SARS-CoV-2. The mouse study showed a decrease in lung injury from COVID-19 compared to the mice that did not receive sulforaphane. The scientists then continued the research by combining the antiviral remdesivir with sulforaphane to determine the effect on SARS-CoV-2.  The combination of the two worked better on inhibiting the virus than either component alone.  

What does this mean for managing COVID-19? At this point, the research has not been proven in humans and they have only used commercially available products at high concentrations.  The research is important to scientists to find new avenues to manage COVID-19 and future drug treatment options. Nutrition, including fruits and vegetables, is still a key to managing our health and wellness. Right now, the recommendation is to avoid purchasing supplements containing these ingredients and continue to add the food products into your diet.  Eat your vegetables!

Feel free to call the ONU HealthWise Pharmacy for the science on COVID-19. ONU HealthWise is offering COVID-19 including boosters Monday through Friday from 10 AM to 5 PM. Call the pharmacy for an appointment for other time slots. The ONU HealthWise pharmacy offers Moderna and Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines. Call the pharmacy to get more information.  

ONU HealthWise Pharmacy
419-772-3784
www.onuhealthwisepharmacy.com