Flashback Friday: The Best Foods for Fighting Autism and Brain Inflammation

Can diet be an effective part of autism treatment? One food may be able to combat all four purported causal factors of autism: synaptic dysfunction, oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, and neuroinflammation. The sulforaphane found in five cents’ worth of broccoli sprouts has been shown to benefit autism in a way no drug ever has in randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study.

What else can broccoli’s magic do?

After producing my initial series on autism, I’ve made even more videos on the topic. See them all at

Thanks for watching. I hope you’ll join in the evidence-based nutrition revolution!
-Michael Greger, MD FACLM

Captions for this video are available in several languages; you can find yours in the video settings.

[sircorkysriley]

try broccoli sprouts which have much higher sulforaphane than mature broccoli

[Neiwun]

7:50 I'm sorry, but I still have the mind of a child. When he said "published in one of our most prestigious journals, PNAS" I burst out laughing. WHY WOULD THEY CHOOSE THAT NAME FOR THEMSELVES? lol

[DivergentMoon]

More and more adults since this video was made have been discovering they are autistic. I discovered that at age 76. So the increase in diagnoses may largely be due to better understanding of autism and therefore more diagnoses.

[shaysg]

03:53 "Power plants for our cellular power plants."
05:37 "One food to rule them all."
God I love NutritionFacts writers.

[gracemorganspeaks]

Nice content. Whoever is reading this keep a positive mindset no matter how bad things are in your life. Don't give into negative people. Focus on your goals, dreams and vision.

[notpeter]

Thank you so much dr Gregor and nutrition facts team. I was having a battle with inflammation and eczema in my feet and hands and tried everything from water fasting long periods at a time to changing my diet to no avail. I was a vegan for 3 years and went back to meat for 1 year (don’t ask me why). 2 days on a broccoli heavy diet with mustard seeds, 2 litres of water a day, intermittent fasting (eating whatever from 8am-1pm), flaxseed oats blueberry shake in the morning, a cup of mushrooms and beans a day. Now I’m back on a healthy vegan diet and my illnesses clearing up. Things that helped me stay healthy and transition back was japanese curry packs to make a vege packed curry and put that on the top of rice. Make sure the curry has beans so You get that rice and beans satisfaction

[rebeccamouse]

If the double blind, placebo controlled trial used sulphurophane in capsules derived from broccoli sprouts, why not give that to people with autism? I know the whole food is healthier and more beneficial for many reasons, but people with autism often have serious food aversions, and starting them out on a supplement, if possible, might be a stepping stone to eating the whole plant. Is the sulphurophane the researchers used available commercially?

[thornslove]

You + Rhonda Patrick would be an interesting interview

[silversobe]

Dr Rhonda Patrick has been a Champ for Sulforaphane benefits & awareness. Sulforaphane has numerous health benefits as well. Broccoli sprouts have been shown to be the best source. Adding fresh mustard seed powder to cooked broccoli reactivates its bioavailability.

[eduimpro]

sir please made a same video for muscular dystrophy and please suggest effective foods to control and reverse this life threatening disease..

[gSWGR]

It's not on the rise, the diagnoses are, and that's entirely due to the diagnostic criteria expanding.

[christophersalinas]

I worked in a clinic as a therapist. Needless to say the diets of the children weren’t the best. I always wondered how the children’s behaviors would be had their parents sent them with a balanced diet.

[lisamarieclark]

Puts pounds of broccoli in the cart. We put it to the test every week.

[Ryansarcade]

As someone with ASD, this is much appreciated!!

[gypsypath]

Have any studies been done on berries have similar effects? It’s a lot easier to feed sweet berries than it is to feed bitter/spicy vegetables.

[amandedouce]

Please, please, talk about the effect of gluten and dairy on people with autism (this is a I already knew how good crusciferous vegetables can be good for autists and for everyone indeed, but only people with autism or related to them, know how difficult it is to make them eat something when they don't like the smell, taste or the texture of that food... They can be extremly picky. Please! help us please. Thanks.

[fifihidiru]

Is it effective in raw form or cooked??

[susandavenport]

My autistic son used to wretch getting even a whiff of broccoli. Now 22, he eats broccoli (and anything else).

[aarong]

Does it matter which cruciferous veggies one consumes? Is red cabbage as good as broccoli?

[ichigokurosaki]

Wait does this work with kale too? Cause I actually dont like broccoli.