Reducing Dog Inflammation Naturally

As a canine nutritionist for more than a dozen years, I have worked with a lot of chronically ill dogs. Over the past several years, I’ve noticed a sharp rise in dogs suffering from conditions such as chronic kidney disease, liver disease, IBD and other gastrointestinal disorders, diabetes and cancer. When I’m called upon in these cases, there’s one thing I can bank on: the dog is suffering from chronic cellular inflammation. This is why conventional pharmaceutical medications don’t “cure” chronic diseases; at best, they manage them. The only “cure” is to get rid of the root cause – the inflammation. In this article, we’ll dive deep into one of the very best ways that I’ve found of preventing, managing and even reversing chronic diseases in dogs by reducing dog inflammation naturally.

Let’s begin by diving a bit more into what inflammation is, and the “good” vs. the “bad” type.

“Good” Inflammation

Under normal circumstances, inflammation isn’t a bad thing. In fact, it’s part of the body’s natural immune and healing response. For example, if you get a scrape or a bruise, you’ll notice that the surrounding area becomes inflamed. That’s inflammation that you can actually see. Other types of inflammation are “invisible” to the naked eye. If your body (or your dog’s body) is invaded with a pathogen, bacteria or virus, the tissues will release immune cells – white blood cells that rush to attack and eradicate the invader, or antigen. These immune cells release a variety of substances known as inflammatory mediators, which help prevent further inflammation and aid in healing. You’ve probably heard of histamine, which is an inflammatory mediator.

The inflammation I’ve just described is “acute” inflammation. Acute inflammation has a defined life cycle – a beginning, middle and an end. In other words, once the problem is taken care of (the skin regenerates or the virus is eradicated), the inflammation subsides and the body returns to a state of balance, or homeostasis.

“Bad” Inflammation

But there’s another type of inflammation that is much more sinister. This is called “chronic” inflammation. Chronic inflammation results when the normal acute inflammatory process goes haywire. In other words, it doesn’t end.

Even though the immune cells have finished their job, they are stuck in a continuous loop, repeating their attack. Except now, they don’t have no “enemy” to fight. So, what do they do? They target healthy tissues and organs.

This ongoing state of inflammation wreaks havoc in the body. It leads to cellular oxidative stress and the production of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS), such as free radicals. Chronic inflammation also disrupts the homeostasis of the gut microflora, producing dysbiosis. And it leads to a whole host of chronic inflammatory diseases, including:

• Allergies
• Arthritis
• Autoimmune diseases
• Cancer
• Cardiovascular disease
• Cognitive issues
• Chronic kidney disease
• Periodontal diseases and gingivitis
• Diabetes
• Gastrointestinal disorders
• Kidney disease
• Liver disease
• Lung disease
• Obesity
• Skin and coat disorders
• Urinary tract disorders

Chronic Inflammation: A Canine Epidemic

It’s no secret that chronic inflammation is skyrocketing in modern companion dogs. All we have to do is take a look around.

• Approximately six million new cases of canine cancer are diagnosed each year.
• Diabetes in dogs increased by almost 80% from 2006 to 2016).
• In 2018, more than half (55%) of dogs were classified as overweight or obese.
• Osteoarthritis in dogs has increased by 66% over the past 10 years.

And these are just a few disturbing trends.

The message is clear. Reducing chronic inflammation that’s rampant in dogs is key to helping our best friends live longer, healthier lives.

Diana laverdure-Dunetz, MS

Reducing Dog Inflammation Naturally

We now know that we absolutely must get to the root of the problem to give our dogs the healthiest, longest life possible. And as we now know, the root of chronic diseases is chronic cellular inflammation. One of the major reasons I am a proponent of a fresh, whole-food plant-based (WFPB) diet for dogs is because science has demonstrated over and over again that a WFPB is best for reducing inflammation, fighting oxidative stress and preventing chronic inflammatory diseases. As I point out in my book,The Plant-Powered Dog, this is true for dogs as well as people.

What’s really amazing is that within the wonderful, nutritious cornucopia of plant foods, Mother Nature has created “inflammation-fighting superstars.” These are foods that excel at reducing dog inflammation naturally (as well as human inflammation, of course). Foods that naturally fight inflammation are called functional foods.

Over the years I’ve fallen in love with one particular inflammation-fighting superstar – broccoli sprouts. Broccoli sprouts are a powerful functional food that, when given properly, are a simple, convenient and cost-effective way to reduce dog inflammation naturally. And this means giving your dog a better chance of living a long, healthy, disease-free life.

Broccoli Sprouts: Sulforaphane Superstars

To understand why broccoli sprouts are a function food superstar, we need to begin by understanding sulforaphane.

Sulforaphane is a compound commonly found in cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, brussels sprouts, and cabbage. However, the highest levels are found in broccoli sprouts.

Sulforaphane is produced when the enzyme myrosinase transforms glucoraphanin (a glucosinolate) into sulforaphane. This occurs when the plant is damaged, such as upon chewing, which allows the two compounds to mix and react. And that’s where the magic begins.

Since the 1990s, more than 3000 studies in animals have shown powerful health benefits of sulforaphane, including anti-cancer. (Please note that I do not condone animal studies and fight against them.) There have also been more than 50 clinical trials (as of 2019) examining pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics and disease mitigation.

How Broccoli Sprouts Can Help Your Dog

Unfortunately, we live in a toxic world. No matter how hard we try to reduce toxins, we can’t eliminate them because they are everywhere. Dogs can be especially vulnerable, given that they are low to the ground and often roll in and lick or chew grass, which can be riddled with pesticides and herbicides. Many dogs are also exposed to household chemicals and flea and tick products. Even if you’ve managed to control all of these factors, toxins are in the air we breathe. There’s just no getting around it.

There are far too many studies regarding the health benefits of sulforaphane to list (I highly recommend Googling “health benefits of sulforphane”). However, if your dog suffers from any of the following, he can benefit from sulforaphane:

• Inflammation: As I mentioned before, most (if not all) chronic health conditions are rooted in inflammation. This means that sulforaphane in broccoli sprouts can be a great addition to any anti-inflammatory diet. Sulforaphane inhibits multiple types of inflammasones and can improve a variety of inflammation-based diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes, atherosclerosis, respiratory conditions such as asthma and certain autoimmune disorders (Greaney et al., 2016).
• Neurological Issues or Cognitive Decline: Sulforaphane is packed with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory phytochemicals that are shown to help prevent brain diseases and have a neuroprotective effect. Sulforaphane is able to cross the blood-brain barrier and accumulate in cerebral tissues and the central nervous system, where it activates the Nrf2 signaling pathway as well as antioxidative enzymes (Sun et al., 2017).
• Type 2 Diabetes: When comparing sulforaphane to 3,800 drugs, sulforaphane was found to best reverse the disease signature in liver tissue for Type2 diabetes. Sulforaphane suppressed the production of glucose from liver cells via the Nrf2 pathway and reduced the expression of key enzymes involved in gluconeogenesis (the production of glucose from certain non-carbohydrate substrates). In animal studies, sulforaphane reversed the disease signature in the livers from diabetic animals and performed similar to metformin in its ability to reduce the effect of exaggerated glucose production and glucose intolerance. As part of a concentrated broccoli sprout extract, sulforaphane was also able to decrease fasting blood glucose and glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) levels in obese patients with dysregulated Type 2 diabetes (Axelsson et al., 2017).
• Liver Disease: In a randomized, placebo-controlled, double blind trial involving, male participants with fatty liver disease were give either broccoli sprout capsules containing glucoraphanin or a placebo for two months. The patients give the broccoli sprout extract had significantly decreased serum levels of liver function markers, including ALT, γ-GTP and alkali phosphatase, while the placebo group showed no significant effects on the markers. Broccoli sprout extract also prevented chronic liver failure in rats injected with a known liver toxin and carcinogen. The protective effect was attributed to inducing phase 2 antioxidant enzymes, including hepatic glutathione S-transferase, involved in detoxification (Kikuchi et al., 2015).
• Gut Pathogens: Studies show that sulforaphane can help kill H. Pylori in the gut, with high effectiveness against bacterial strains resistant to the antibiotics clarithromycin and metronidazole (Fahey et al., 2002). Research also shows that natural sulforaphane induced eradication of H. pylori infections from human gastric xenografts implanted in nude mice. Of 11 implanted xenografts treated with sulforaphane, eight were completely eradicated of the H. pylori infections (Haristoy et al, 2003).
• Cancer: In laboratory tests, sulforaphane is shown to stimulate the production of enzymes in the body that detoxify cancer-causing substances before they have a chance to damage cells. Sulforaphane is show to protect against cancer via multiple pathways and at several stages of cancer development (Anand et al., 2008). Sulforaphane can simultaneously inhibition enzymes that are responsible for the activation of pro-carcinogens and trigger enzymes that are vital in eliminating mutations. Sulforaphane is involved in multiple anti-cancer pathways, including inducing apoptosis (cancer cell death), induction of cell cycle arrest, and inhibition of NFκB (Tortorella et al., 2015).

... the chemopreventive properties of sulforaphane, and its capacity to be selectivity toxic to malignant cells and impart these effects through a number of mechanisms, provide rationale to completely elucidate and evaluate its potential as an anti-cancer compound alone, and in combination with clinically relevant therapeutic and management strategies.

Tortorella et al., 2015

Once I became aware of the powerful health benefits of sulforaphane as delivered in broccoli sprouts, I realized the amazing potential for reducing dog inflammation naturally. What I didn’t know that the time was that I was about to embark on a long and interesting journey to discover the perfect broccoli sprout product to help my canine – and human – clients.

My Broccoli Sprout Journey Begins

“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be they food” has long been a mantra of mine. I adopted a vegan lifestyle for ethical reasons, but I turned to a WFPB diet for myself and my canine clients for health reasons. (Yes, vegans can live on junk food, too!) That’s why, whenever possible, I believe in delivering nutrients via whole, real foods. This means in always looking for the best ways of reducing dog inflammation naturally.

Once I became passionate about the health benefits of broccoli sprouts for dogs and people, I decided to start sprouting them myself. I figured, “What could be better than fresh sprouts that I sprout myself?” But I soon found that the concept was better than the reality!

For starters, I was producing way more sprouts than I needed. Even just sprouting in a small bag as I did resulted in a lot of sprouts! This might seem like a good thing, but I learned something important.

If you can consume your sprouts the same day, then nothing can beat them nutritionally. But once they sit for even a couple of days, they lose a great deal of their nutritional potency.

In reality, I didn’t love the taste of broccoli sprouts enough to eat a lot every day. And, I can assure you that my dog, Moo, didn’t love them that much, either!

So, here I was going through the whole rigamarole of sprouting, only to end up throwing most of it away after a few days. And on top of that, I learned that what I was consuming probably wasn’t even that potent.

This left me in a bit of a pickle. I knew that I wanted the health benefits of broccoli sprouts, but that (for me, at least) sprouting them myself was neither the most practical nor the most nutritious solution.

The Search Continues....

I then started scouring the Internet for broccoli sprout products – and I found a lot of them. But these potions all came with their own problems. They were either extracts or they were processed via dehydration or freeze drying.

This meant one thing to me: these products were not providing the full benefits of fresh, living broccoli sprouts (especially the key components of myrosinase and glucoraphanin).

I know that we’ve been taught to believe that dehydrating and freeze drying maintain the food’s original nutritional value, but I discovered that even these methods can result in significant nutrient loss.

First of all, dehydrating relies on two key components: temperature and time. Enzymes are destroyed when foods are dehydrated above a certain temperature (consensus on the exact temperature varies, but seems to be about 118 degrees Fahrenheit). And, as we saw above, broccoli sprouts must maintain their key enzymes to be effective. Time is also a factor. The longer a food is dehydrated, the older it gets (obviously). Even freeze drying has its drawbacks. For example, I discovered that foods are typically blanched via a short heat period before being freeze dried!

I learned that fresh, living, “farm to table” broccoli spouts are far superior to maximize their health benefits. The older sprouts get, the more they lose nutritional value.

But I was soon to discover that there’s also a lot more to it....

Found: The Perfect Broccoli Sprouts

One day, after months of searching, I discovered a small organic indoor farm in the Hudson River Valley region of New York. It looked like this farm was producing the highest quality broccoli sprout powder I could imagine, so I had to learn more. My first conversation with the farm’s owner lasted more than two hours: I had no idea someone could know so much about broccoli sprouts!

I became increasingly excited as the farm’s owner talked me through their proprietary sprouting and drying process. One thing was clear. There was no other product like this that I was aware of on the market.

My mind began whirling. I couldn’t imagine a better product to offer my clients for reducing dog inflammation naturally. And there was a huge bonus: it could help them, too!

After many more conversations, during which I learned more and more, I decided to partner with this small organic farm to produce my very own broccoli sprout product, which I proudly call BroccoBoost.

You see, other products that I’m aware of are either synthetic or extracted components or they are processed via high-heat dehydration or freeze drying. Unfortunately, as expensive as these products might be, this means that they aren’t optimally delivering the essential living components that make broccoli sprouts so effective at reducing inflammation in dogs and people.

BroccoBoost is a whole, living functional food that retains all the living enzymes present in the sprouts. In order for broccoli sprout powder to work its magic, such as reducing dog inflammation naturally, it must contain the living enzymes.

Imagine being able to carry the components and nutritional value of several bushels of live, mature broccoli plants in a 1 oz package, less than the size of a deck of cards? This small organic farm discovered a proprietary method to make this happen!

Here is a step-by-step rundown on how BroccoBoost is produced:

1. The broccoli sprouts begin their lives grown in real soil in micro climate controlled chambers (not greenhouses and not hydroponically). They are watered carefully at the roots for maximum nutrient uptake and retention via the soil (They are not “top down” watered on the leaves, which promotes nutrient loss.)
2. Immediately after the sprouts are harvested, they undergo a proprietary dehydration process at 95 degrees Fahrenheit for less than 24 hours. This reduces the water content of the sprouts from about 80% to about 8% for shelf stabilization. Once the plant is harvested, the nutrients begin to oxidize (rot) naturally and dissipate. This proprietary dehydration process stops the rotting without killing the nutrients or deactivating the absorption enzymes.
3. The whole dehydrated plant is then milled into a living, shelf-stable powder. The whole food 100% USDA organic powder is now ready for storage and/or transport until ready to be used.

Buyer Beware

In our household, we are sticklers about what we eat, and that means organic, fresh, natural foods. We’re not perfect, but given my profession and that my husband is a functional medicine doctor, we take the “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food” mantra very seriously. Many people purchase supplements, such as broccoli sprout powder, to gain the health benefits I’ve discussed. Unfortunately, they often end up with an expensive and not very effective processed, synthetic or “dead” product.

Here are some of the benefits that most captivated me about this unique broccoli sprout powder. I’ve never come across another product that ticks off so many boxes regarding reducing dog inflammation naturally. This is why I knew I had to partner with this small organic farm to produce BroccoBoost for my canine clients (and their humans!). I not only give it to my own dog, Moo, but also take it every day (typically in a smoothie).

• Whole, raw plant food: The powder contains every ingredient that was in the plant at harvest.  No extracts, no additives and nothing else are used to enhance shelf life or stability.  All nutrients are maintained in proportion, working together (co-factors) as Mother Nature created them.  The plants have not been exposed to enzyme-destroying high heat or cell-compromising freezing.
• Certified 100% USDA Organic by NOFANY/USDA: BroccoBoost is produced from seed to powder without the use of herbicides, pesticides, fertilizers or other toxins.
• 100% Human Food. This is not a “dog food.” It’s a food that’s great for dogs – and their humans!
• Gluten free and non-GMO.
• 100% vegan.
• Naturally potent microgreen stage plant: Studies have shown that microgreen stage plants contain 40 – 100 times the nutrient levels of the mature stage plant.  BroccoBoost’s Vitamin A (beta carotene) typically has a Certificate of Analysis (Eurofins Labs) of 55,000 IU/100g (as high as 66,100)  Mature broccoli is rated at 623 IU/100g by USDA at the time of harvest. 
• Addition of 20% sprouted organic Daikon radish: Research shows that adding Daikon radish can more than double the sulforaphane formation in broccoli sprouts.
• Socially conscious. This wonderful organic garden provides jobs to special needs individuals, including ex-incarcerated, veterans and the physically and developmentally challenged.

Frequently Asked Questions About BroccoBoost

The Bottom Line

It would be great to say that we live in a perfect, toxin-free world. It would also be great if none of our beloved canine companions experienced cellular inflammation or chronic inflammatory diseases. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Our dogs live in the same toxic world we do and they are arguably even more susceptible.

If your dog doesn’t already have a chronic inflammatory condition, then you certainly want to do everything possible to prevent this from happening.

Giving BroccoBoost every day (and taking it myself) is one of the easiest, most cost-effective and proven ways that I’ve found to help our entire family fight the chronic inflammation that comes with living in today’s toxic world.

I originally decided to partner with this small organic farm because I wanted the very best product for my own family (four-legged and two-legged). I want your family to have the best as well.

I hope you’ll give BroccoBoost a try for your beloved canine companion. When it comes to reducing dog inflammation naturally, you have nothing to lose and potentially a lot of health benefits to gain.

Just click the button below and it will take you to the checkout cart, where you can select either the one-ounce or two-ounce size.

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