Investigating the potential anti-diabetic effect of sulforaphane

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is a major public health issue worldwide and it currently affects nearly 26 million people in the United States. It is estimated that one third of Americans will have diabetes by 2050. T2D is a result of chronic insulin resistance and loss of beta-cell mass and function. Both in experimental animals and people, obesity is a leading pathogenic factor for developing insulin resistance, which is always associated with the impairment in energy metabolism, causing increased intracellular fat content in skeletal muscle, liver, fat, as well as pancreatic islets. Constant insulin resistance will progress to T2D when beta-cells are unable to secret adequate amount of insulin to compensate for decreased insulin sensitivity. In the present study, I investigated whether sulforaphane, a natural compound derived from cruciferous vegetables, can prevent high-fat (HF) diet-induced obesity and diabetes in C57BL/6 mice. Dietary intake of sulforaphane (250 mg/kg diet) prevented hyperglycemia and increased insulin sensitivity in HF diet-induced obese mice. Mice treated with sulforaphane had significant lower serum insulin levels (1.93±0.11 μg/dl) as compared to those without treatment (3.09±0.27 μg/dl, P<0.05). In second study, administration of sulforaphane (40 mg/kg body weight daily via gavage) in obese mice enhanced body weight loss and improved insulin sensitivity. Moreover, sulforaphane increased pyruvate oxidation by 28.85% (P<0.05) and enhanced fatty acid oxidation efficiency by 2.2 fold (P<0.05) in primary human muscle cells. These results suggest that sulforaphane may be a naturally occurring insulin-sensitizing agent that is capable of preventing T2D.