This 2020 study evaluated a broccoli sprout compound’s effects on breast cancer development:

“Women who carry the BRCA mutation are at high lifetime risk of breast cancer, but there is no consensus regarding an effective and safe chemoprevention strategy. A large body of evidence suggests that 3,3-diindolylmethane (DIM), a dimer of indole-3-carbinol found in cruciferous vegetables, can potentially prevent carcinogenesis and tumor development.

A year’s supplementation with DIM 100 mg daily in BRCA carriers was associated with a significant decline in FGT [fibroglandular tissue] amount on MRI. Larger randomized studies are warranted to corroborate these findings.”

https://academic.oup.com/carcin/article/41/10/1395/5847633 “3,3-Diindolylmethane (DIM): a nutritional intervention and its impact on breast density in healthy BRCA carriers. A prospective clinical trial”

This study didn’t address DIM bioavailability. What were the DIM amounts each subject actually processed? How was DIM bioavailability related to their “significant decline in FGT” outcome?

Studies that found DIM was only 1-3% bioavailable after oral administration include:

• Studies on aqueous solubility of 3,3′-diindolylmethane derivatives using cyclodextrin inclusion complexes; and
• Pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of 3,3′-diindolylmethane (DIM) in regulating gene expression of phase II drug metabolizing enzymes.

PubChem lists DIM molecular weight as 246.31 g/mol. A 4.06 μmol DIM amount (.001 / 246.31) equals a 1 mg weight. The study’s daily DIM intake 100 mg weight was a 406 μmol amount.

(406 μmol x 1%) = 4 μmol and (406 μmol x 3%) = 12 μmol. Was DIM bioavailability in a 4 – 12 μmol range?

Eat broccoli sprouts for DIM and Our model clinical trial for Changing to a youthful phenotype with broccoli sprouts measured DIM excreted as a result of eating 30 grams raw broccoli super sprouts every day. Indolic glucosinolates were as follows:

DIM at the 70-day point was an average 0.650 μmol amount, which was almost twice those subjects’ 0.334 average beginning amount. Our model clinical trial provided support to the two studies on DIM bioavailability in that as a group, subjects’ DIM bioavailability was 3.01% (0.650 μmol DIM / 21.61 μmol glucobrassicin DIM precursor).

If each subject’s DIM was collected over 24-hours, glucobrassicin precursor conversion calculations may have produced individual bioavailability measurements.

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