Isothiocyanates from Brassica Vegetables-Effects of Processing, Cooking, Mastication, and Digestion.
Level 5 - mechanism / opinion, no new human data
Narrative review synthesizing mechanistic and postharvest factors influencing glucosinolate hydrolysis
PubMed 29898282 · doi:10.1002/mnfr.201701069
What was done
The authors reviewed recent literature examining intrinsic plant factors (such as glucosinolate concentration, myrosinase activity, and specifier proteins) and extrinsic postharvest conditions (industrial processing, domestic cooking, mastication, gastric and intestinal digestion, and meal matrix interactions) that govern the hydrolysis of glucosinolates into bioactive isothiocyanates.
What was found
The abstract reports no numerical data or effect sizes. It qualitatively describes how intrinsic vegetable factors, cooking methods, chewing intensity, and upper gastrointestinal digestion conditions create large variability in the formation, intake, and absorption of isothiocyanates.
Why it matters
Understanding the multi-stage variability in isothiocyanate generation explains why establishing optimal Brassica consumption guidelines is difficult and highlights food preparation factors that influence bioactive nutrient yield.
Limits
This is a narrative review with no systematic search methodology, meta-analytic pooling, or risk of bias assessment reported. The abstract provides no specific quantitative thresholds for cooking temperatures, durations, or absorption percentages.
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