Broccoli, Women's Health Supplements Deliver Di-Indole Methane
DIM naturally occurs in broccoli and its cousins, the other so-called cruciferous vegetables. These include cabbage, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower and kale.
How often did your parents tell you to eat your broccoli? Well, they may have been onto something, since new studies are findings that this vegetable contains previously undiscovered reserves of vitamins and nutrients. Even when such greens are out of season, it's easy enough to get all the benefits of broccoli by taking nutritional supplements containing di-indole methane (DIM) and essential minerals.
What is DIM? The DIM Information Resource Center, an initiative of the University of California at Berkeley, explains that this molecule naturally occurs in broccoli and its cousins, the other so-called cruciferous vegetables. These include cabbage, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower and kale.
Basically, DIM is a natural compound that is found in the cell walls of these vegetables. By eating them, or by taking DIM supplements, individuals may be able to radically improve their cellular health.
You see, this broccoli-based stuff reportedly helps keep human cells dividing at a healthy rate, even into old age. Combined with antioxidants and vitamins, DIM may support brain health and slow the cellular aging process.
In fact, broccoli appears to contain large amounts of essential minerals, at least according to a report published in the journal Crop Science. Written by scientists at the USDA's Agricultural Research Service, the report stated that the latest breeds of broccoli contain just as many minerals as they did in 1975.
What's astounding about this finding is that many other common U.S. crops have been gradually losing their vitamin and mineral loads. Not broccoli, though. The research team found that this veggie contains plenty of calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, sodium, phosphorus and zinc.
Lead author Mark Farnham said that this sustained level of nutrients is nothing less than astounding.
"Our studies show that not much has changed in terms of mineral content in the last 35 years in a crop that has undergone significant improvement from a quality standpoint and that was not widely consumed in the United States before the 1960s," he explained in a press release.
Though DIM is not mentioned in the report, many nutritional experts consider the molecule to be one of the key reasons that broccoli is consider one of the world's healthiest vegetables.
Individuals who dislike broccoli, or who simply rarely get around to buying it, may be interested in nutritional health supplements containing DIM. Many women's health multivitamins are especially good sources of DIM, since this substance has been proven to support feminine health during both the premenstrual period and, later, during menopause.