To follow up Changing an inflammatory phenotype with broccoli sprouts:

1. My traveling companion used a kitchen scale to measure the weight of broccoli sprouts at Day 3. She started them from one tablespoon of broccoli seeds, and they weighed 60 grams!

The model clinical trial [1] used 30 grams to produce great results:

“The intervention consisted of a 10-week period which included daily consumption of a portion (30 g) of raw, fresh broccoli sprouts. This amount is consistent with a half-serving.”

I asked the study’s corresponding coauthor for clarification of “a half-serving.” Our conversation is at Understanding a clinical trial’s broccoli sprout amount.

Eating a 60 gram “full serving” of 3-day-old broccoli sprouts yielding 27 mg of sulforaphane after microwaving [2] fits [3]‘s guidelines:

“The daily SFN [sulforaphane] dose found to achieve beneficial outcomes in most of the available clinical trials is around 20-40 mg.”

2. My current microwaving time for 60 grams of 3-day-old broccoli sprouts in 100 ml of water with a 1000 W microwave on full power is 35 seconds. Their temperature gets up to 57°C. YMMV.

I immediately cool down the microwaved broccoli sprouts in a colander. See Enhancing sulforaphane content for changes. Go up to the 60°C cliff but don’t fall into the 70°C 65°C canyon:

The desired range [2]:

“In the temperature range of 50–60°C, a positive correlation was observed between GLR [glucoraphanin] or SFR [sulforaphane] contents and temperature. However, these two physiochemical contents were negatively correlated with temperature when it increased to 70°C.”

3. I had several days of failed crops during Week 2. I switched over to Russian-doll glass bowls with success:

I’d guess that failures were related to excess moisture, which broccoli sprouts hate, hate, hate! Look closely at the top left Day 0 tray below:

Notice concentric raised ribs that are about 1/16″ high. Their effects may have either kept broccoli seeds too wet over a 3-day period, or promoted bacterial growth (although I ran them through a dishwasher after Day 3).

4. I started to put items on the edge of my microwave’s carousel because they don’t heat evenly when placed in the center. I thought uneven heating was a problem that was solved a long time ago, but not for the microwave I bought (Sharp model SMC1131C, which was the least expensive at Best Buy on the day I needed a carousel microwave oven.)

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[1] 2018 Effects of long-term consumption of broccoli sprouts on inflammatory markers in overweight subjects curated in How much sulforaphane is suitable for healthy people?

[2] 2020 Microwave cooking increases sulforaphane level in broccoli curated in Microwave broccoli to increase sulforaphane levels and Growing a broccoli sprouts Victory Garden

[3] 2019 Sulforaphane: Its “Coming of Age” as a Clinically Relevant Nutraceutical in the Prevention and Treatment of Chronic Disease curated in How much sulforaphane is suitable for healthy people?