Collard Greens (Brassica) Protects the Nerves Against the Risk of Peripheral Neuropathy in Diabetes

By Kyle J. Norton

Diabetic neuropathy is a complication of patients with diabetes associated with nerves damage,  inducing pain and numbness in the legs and feet to conditions associated with the digestive system.

Most cases of diabetic neuropathy in diabetics are involved in a history of hyperglycemia caused by long-term high levels of glucose in the bloodstream, urinary tract, blood vessels, and heart due to poor lifestyle.

 Peripheral neuropathy is the main type of diabetic neuropathy, affecting the nerves that control the feet and legs first, followed by the hands and arms. Other main types of diabetic neuropathy are
* The autonomic neuropathy that affects the nerves that control the heart, bladder, stomach, intestines, sex organs and eyes.

* Radiculoplexus neuropathy found mostly in older patients affects nerves that control the thighs, hips, buttocks or legs.

* Mononeuropathy, or focal neuropathy also found commonly in older patients affects the nerves that control the face, middle of the body (torso) or leg.

The most common signs and symptoms of peripheral neuropathy are a gradual onset of numbness, prickling or tingling in the feet or hands, over time which can spread upward into your legs and arms.

Some patients with peripheral neuropathy may also experience sharp, jabbing, throbbing or burning pain and skin that extreme sensitivity to touch.

The causes of peripheral neuropathy that damage of nerves and blood vessels in the affected area has been found to induce by over time, uncontrolled high blood sugar.

In other words, peripheral neuropathy is preventable by keeping the blood glucose in the healthy range.

Collard Green is a species of Brassica Oleracea, belongings to the family Brassicaceae with unknown origin. Today, the plant is cultivated commercially for its thick, slightly bitter edible leaves.

With an aim to find a potential compound for the prevention of diabetes complications-induced loss of limbs' sensation that results in lower limb amputation in patients with diabetes, researchers examined the effects of sulforaphane on peripheral neuropathy in an animal model.

The experiment included diabetes rats induced through single intraperitoneal injections of nicotinamide (50 mg/kg) and streptozotocin (52.5 mg/kg) randomly divided into five groups
* Two groups were treated with saline or sulforaphane 

* Three diabetic groups were either untreated or given sulforaphane (1 mg/kg, p.o.) or pregabalin (10 mg/kg, i.p.).

According to the results of tested analysis after 2 weeks, groups treated with sulforaphane restored animals' body weight, reduced levels of blood glucose in the nicotinamide (50 mg/kg) and streptozotocin (52.5 mg/kg) treated group

Furthermore, glycated hemoglobin and increased insulin levels were also normalized by the administration of  sulforaphane, compared to the untreated diabetes groups,

Histopathological changes induced by the nicotinamide (50 mg/kg) and streptozotocin were also reversed in the sulforaphane-treated group observed by the normalizing motor coordination and the latency withdrawal time and increasing the latency withdrawal time.

Furthermore, sulforaphane also decreased markers (malondialdehyde) of oxidative stress of sciatic nerve and inhibited the overexpression of free radicals in the initiation of the production of proinflammatory cytokines and cellular damage compared to untreated groups.

Moreover, levels of antioxidant enzymes in the sciatic nerves produced the treatment groups also significant increase by the injection of sulforaphane.

The results strongly suggested that sulforaphane processed a neuroprotective effect against peripheral neuropathy in diabetic rats possibly through modulating oxidative stress, inflammation, and extracellular matrix associated with cellular differentiation remodeling,

Collectively, researchers wrote in the final report, " In NA-STZ model of diabetes mellitus, sulforaphane, restored animals' body weight, reduced blood glucose, glycated hemoglobin, and increased insulin levels. In parallel, it normalized motor coordination and the latency withdrawal time of the tail flick test increased the latency withdrawal time of cold allodynia test and ameliorated histopathological changes".

Taken altogether, collard green processed abundantly bioactive compound sulforaphane may be considered supplements for the prevention and treatment of peripheral neuropathy, pending to the confirmation of the larger sample size and multicenter human study.

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Author Biography
Kyle J. Norton (Scholar, Master of Nutrition, All right reserved)
Health article writer and researcher; Over 10.000 articles and research papers have been written and published online, including worldwide health, ezine articles, article base, health blogs, self-growth, best before it's news, the karate GB daily, etc.,.
Named TOP 50 MEDICAL ESSAYS FOR ARTISTS & AUTHORS TO READ by Disilgold.com Named 50 of the best health Tweeters Canada - Huffington Post
Nominated for shorty award over last 4 years
Some articles have been used as references in medical research, such as international journal Pharma and Bioscience, ISSN 0975-6299.

Sources
(1) Extracellular Matrix Remodeling and Modulation of Inflammation and Oxidative Stress by Sulforaphane in Experimental Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy by Moustafa PE1, Abdelkader NF2, El Awdan SA3, El-Shabrawy OA3, Zaki HF. (PubMed)