The Science
SmarterNaturally Soup Explained
Broccoli has long been considered to be a ‘superfood’, with a body of scientific studies finding that eating lots of cruciferous vegetables (and broccoli in particular) may help reduce the risk of various health conditions – such as type-2 diabetes, cancer, high cholesterol, heart disease and even some neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s.
But how can one vegetable have such a powerful impact on so many different areas of our health?
Broccoli's Secret Ingredient: Glucoraphanin
A key part of broccoli’s health-boosting effects is a naturally-occurring compound called glucoraphanin. Some cruciferous vegetables contain a small amount of glucoraphanin, with broccoli tending to be the richest in this active compound – which is why broccoli seems to be particularly good for our health.
When we eat broccoli, the glucoraphanin inside it is converted in our gut into its active form, called sulforaphane. Rather than acting directly on any one aspect of our health, sulforaphane helps improve the way our cells work at a very fundamental level – which then in turn brings a wide range of benefits to many different aspects of our health.
The Anti-Aging Power of Glucoraphanin & Sulforaphane
When we are young, our bodies usually maintain a healthy balance between burning our food to produce energy and using our food to grow (such as building muscle or storing energy as fat). However, as we age our cells become less effective at burning energy – which is one of the reasons we can start to feel like we have less energy as we get older.
Since they’re generating less energy, our cells instead convert more of our food into the ‘building blocks’ of growth – such as proteins, fats, sugars and cholesterol. These molecules are all essential for keeping us healthy, but producing too many of them can negatively impact our health.
In fact, many common age-related diseases are linked to this shift in our metabolism. For example, producing too many fats can lead to obesity; high blood sugar can contribute to developing type-2 diabetes; high cholesterol puts us at a greater risk of heart disease; and having lots of sugars and proteins available can provide the fuel for small cancers to grow.
Research suggests that sulforaphane can help reverse this change in our metabolism. It activates natural processes which support our cells to produce more energy, ‘re-tuning’ our metabolism to be more active. In this way, sulforaphane has an ‘anti-aging’ effect at a cellular level much like exercise does, enabling our cells to function like younger, healthier versions of themselves.
Age Gracefully with Glucoraphanin
This ‘metabolic retuning’ effect of sulforaphane explains why eating a diet rich in glucoraphanin seems to help reduce the risk of such a wide range of age-related health conditions. Rather than protecting us in one specific way, glucoraphanin instead slows down the internal effects of aging and creates a healthier internal balance, which can in turn reduce our risk of various health conditions and diseases where age is a common risk factor.
Our cells become less efficient at producing energy as we age due to the build up of reactive oxygen species (ROS). This is an entirely natural effect of aging, but it disrupts the energy-generating process – causing issues at both a cellular and body-wide level.
Sulforaphane turns on our cells’ natural antioxidant defenses through activating the NRF2 gene pathway. This allows cells to sequester the excess ROS we produce as we age – which allows our metabolism to return to a healthier and more efficient state.
But getting large amounts of glucoraphanin from vegetables is challenging. That’s why we’ve done decades of research (and spent millions of pounds) developing GRextra – a unique new non-GM strain of broccoli that contains much more glucoraphanin than normal – up to 5 times as much as a traditional broccoli.
Now we’ve turned this unique broccoli into SmarterNaturally Soup – a healthy, easy, instant soup that’s naturally rich in glucoraphanin. Eating just one bowl of our soup a week delivers a powerful dose of glucoraphanin. Extensive research suggests that adding such a powerful dose of glucoraphanin to your diet could help re-tune your metabolism and counter cellular aging – helping you stay healthier for longer.
Could Our Soup Boost Your Health?
Research indicates that eating glucoraphanin-rich foods may offer a completely new approach to managing age-related health conditions such as:
Why Not Just Eat More Broccoli?
SmarterNaturally Soup has been carefully crafted with your health in mind. For example, a traditional broccoli often contains very little glucoraphanin (or perhaps none!), whereas our soup delivers a consistent and carefully chosen amount of glucoraphanin in each portion.
Another important aspect of our soup is the way it’s prepared. Just adding boiling water protects key enzymes in the broccoli that are needed to convert glucoraphanin into its active form (sulforaphane) in our gut, and are therefore essential to unlocking the health benefits of glucoraphanin. In contrast, these enzymes are often destroyed by the heat of cooking or steaming traditional broccoli.
SmarterNaturally Soup is the simplest, most reliable way to add the powerful health-boosting effects of glucoraphanin into your diet – and it’s backed by peer reviewed science from world-leading researchers and leading UK health labs.
So why not start your trial today, and see whether SmarterNaturally Soup could help you live a healthier future?
