Dietary Approach to Decrease Aging

Dietary approach to decrease aging-related CNS inflammation
Nutr Neurosci. 2005 Apr;8(2):101-10.
Noyan-Ashraf MH, Sadeghinejad Z, Juurlink BH.
Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, 107 Wiggins Road, Saskatoon, SK, Canada S7N 5E5.

We demonstrate that the spontaneously hypertensive rat stroke-prone rat (SHRsp) undergoes premature aging of the CNS compared to the related normotensive Wistar Kyoto rat (WKY) as demonstrated by presence of activated microglia/macrophages, increased expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase and increased astrogliosis. We tested the hypothesis that dietary intake of phase 2 protein inducers would decrease these aging-associated degenerative changes. The source of dietary phase 2 protein inducers was dried broccoli sprouts of a cultivar containing high amounts of glucoraphanin that gives rise to phase 2 protein-inducing isothiocyanate sulforaphane. This diet significantly decreased the aging-related degenerative changes in the SHRsp CNS. We conclude that modest changes in diet may have profound effects on the aging CNS.