Steamed broccoli sprouts diet alleviates inflammatory bowel disease by increasing anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and gut protective metabolites in an ulcerative colitis mouse model | Functional Foods in Health and Disease - Online ISSN: 2160-3855; Print ISSN: 2378-7007 Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer Open Menu Functional Foods in Health and Disease - Online ISSN: 2160-3855; Print ISSN: 2378-7007 Home Food Science Publisher Functional Food Center Current Archives About About the Journal Aims and Scope Contact Editing Services Editorial Team Express Peer Review Graphical Abstract Journal Insights Privacy Statement Submissions Announcements Search Search Register Login Home / Archives / Vol. 15 No. 5 (2025): May 2025 / Research Articles Steamed broccoli sprouts diet alleviates inflammatory bowel disease by increasing anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and gut protective metabolites in an ulcerative colitis mouse model Authors Tolu E. Alaba Tao Zhang Yanyan Li Suzanne L. Ishaq DOI: https://doi.org/10.31989/ffhd.v15i5.1603 Abstract Background: Broccoli is a cruciferous vegetable rich in bioactive compounds that may be beneficial against inflammatory bowel disease. However, an in-depth annotation and understanding of the metabolites and microbial interactions associated with the broccoli sprouts diet is necessary.  Methods: Specific pathogen-free C57BL/6 mice (male, 6 weeks old) were divided into four treatments: control diet; control diet with 2.5% DSS in water to induce symptoms of ulcerative colitis; 90% control diet plus 10% steamed broccoli sprouts; and 90% control diet/ 10% steamed broccoli sprouts plus 2.5% DSS in drinking water to induce symptoms. DSS treatment was cycled three times, with five days of DSS followed by a recovery period of five days. Mice continued their diets throughout the duration of the study. Fecal samples were collected on day 30 and frozen at -80℃ until metabolomic analysis. Liquid chromatography, conducted using high-resolution mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS) was performed using a Waters Synapt G2, time-of-flight (TOF) XEVO. The LCMS metadata was processed in MassLynx, Progenesis QI, mzMine, and Sirius tools. This included the use of built-in search engines to obtain retention time, mass charge ratio, molecular weight, peak intensity, metabolites name, and formula using several libraries. Results: Over 3,000 fecal metabolites were abundant in the feces of mice, with diet being a significant factor of differentiation (+/- steamed broccoli sprouts) and ulcerative colitis (+/- 2.5% DSS) treatment methods. The steamed broccoli sprouts intervention significantly increased the concentrations of beneficial metabolites, such as sulforaphane, short-chain fatty acids, tryptophan, indoles, glutamic acid, and polyphenolic metabolites. A positive correlation with commensal bacteria, Bacteroides spp., Intestinimonas, Oscillibacter, and Lachnospiraceae was found in the gut's colon, colon, cecal, and jejunum regions, and jejunum regions.  Novelty: This study used innovative metabolomic methods to identify dietary and microbial anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, prebiotic, and gut-protective metabolites associated with diets including steamed broccoli sprouts. The research concluded that the diet was effective against ulcerative colitis in mice.  Conclusions: These data suggest that broccoli sprouts may positively affect metabolites and microbial interactions. These benefits include their antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and gut-protective properties that help with inflammatory bowel disease symptoms.   Keywords: cruciferous vegetables, sulforaphane, glucoraphanin, gut microbiota, dietary bioactives, metabolomics, ulcerative colitis model Downloads [Abstract] [Full Article] Published 2025-05-21 Issue Vol. 15 No. 5 (2025): May 2025 Section Research Articles License Copyright (c) 2025 Functional Foods in Health and Disease This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Authors retain the copyright of their articles and grant the Functional Food Center (FFC) and its journals the right of first publication under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, including commercial use, provided the original author(s) and source are properly credited. 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