The Science

The whole young plant, not one molecule

Most conversations about broccoli and health circle around a single compound: sulforaphane. It's a real, well-studied molecule — but isolating it misses the bigger picture. NOVAVER™ starts from a different premise: the whole young plant carries a matrix of compounds working together, and our job is to preserve that matrix, not extract one piece of it.

Where sulforaphane comes from

Broccoli doesn't contain sulforaphane directly. It contains a precursor compound called glucoraphanin, sitting inert inside the plant's cells. When the plant is chewed, chopped, or otherwise disrupted, an enzyme called myrosinase is released and converts glucoraphanin into active sulforaphane. This enzyme is heat-sensitive — high temperatures can reduce its activity, which is part of why how a plant is processed matters as much as what it contains.

Why microgreens

A microgreen is broccoli at its youngest harvestable stage — typically about 7 to 14 days after sowing, once the first true leaves have developed. Exact timing varies with temperature, light, and growing conditions. Research published by Lu and colleagues in 2018 found that broccoli microgreens contained roughly four times the total aliphatic glucosinolate content of mature broccoli, comparing fresh microgreens to fresh mature florets. We don't extend that finding further than the study supports — it's about glucosinolates in the fresh plant. This finding reflects published research comparing the fresh plants.

About antioxidants

Broccoli microgreens do contain compounds with measured antioxidant activity — vitamin C, carotenoids, tocopherols, and a range of phenolics and flavonoids. Researchers studying Brassica microgreens have reported them among the richest sources of phenolic antioxidants, with higher tocopherol and carotenoid levels than the same plants at maturity.

To give one concrete figure: in a study comparing six microgreen species grown under controlled growth-chamber conditions, broccoli microgreens showed the highest total phenolic content, measured at 825.53 mg gallic acid equivalents per 100 g of fresh weight. We report that as what it is — a single measurement, from one study, under one set of growing conditions. Light, temperature, and growing medium all measurably shift these numbers, so figures differ between studies and between growers.

Two points of precision we think are worth making, because they're often blurred.

Sulforaphane is not itself an antioxidant, despite being described as one almost everywhere. It works differently — researchers have studied it as an activator of the body's own antioxidant enzyme systems, rather than as a compound that neutralises free radicals directly. So a broccoli microgreen contains antioxidants, and separately contains sulforaphane precursors. Two different things, often collapsed into one.

“Antioxidant content” isn't a single measurable number. Different laboratory assays produce different values that can't be compared directly with one another. This is why the USDA withdrew its own antioxidant capacity database in 2012, noting the values were being routinely misused in food and supplement marketing. We're happy to say the compounds are there. We won't put a multiplier on them.

Why freeze-drying

Freeze-drying removes water through sublimation — ice turning directly to vapor — at low temperatures. It's slower and more energy-intensive than heat-drying, and we think that trade-off is worth naming honestly rather than glossing over. The upside is that it's gentler on heat-sensitive components like myrosinase, which is central to how this plant's compounds function once consumed.

Why the same broccoli can behave differently in different people

Eating the same food doesn't mean everyone processes it the same way. In a 2026 study in Food Science & Nutrition, 38 healthy adults ate broccoli sprouts after keeping a seven-day food diary. The researchers profiled each person's gut microbiome and measured sulforaphane metabolites in their urine over the following 72 hours. The analysis suggested that habitual diet and gut bacteria together are linked to how individuals metabolise sulforaphane. It was an exploratory analysis in a small group, and it used fresh broccoli sprouts, not a powder — so it tells us that people differ, not what any one person should expect.

Why flavour is chemistry too

The same family of compounds behind sulforaphane also shapes how Brassica vegetables taste. A 2026 review in Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety concluded that flavour isn't governed simply by how much glucosinolate a vegetable contains, but by which glucosinolates are present, which breakdown products they form, and how the food matrix and processing change the result. A higher or lower total, on its own, doesn't tell you how something will taste.

What we don't claim

We don't rank or quantify vitamins. We don't promise a specific health outcome. We're a food company focused on understanding the whole young plant as closely as we can. If you're curious about the research behind any of this, we're glad to point you to the sources.

Recent research cited above

• Alexiev A, Beaver LM, Bouranis JA, Wong CP, Stevens JF, Sharpton TJ, Ho E. “The Gut Microbiome and Diet Interact to Dictate Personalized Response to Broccoli Sprout Consumption.” Food Science & Nutrition 2026; 14(8). Publication record
• Liu M, Luo G, Li J, Zhou X, Zhong J, Liu X, Shi P, Qin X. “Glucosinolate-Derived Flavor Chemistry of Brassica Vegetables: Formation, Transformation, Stability, and Sensory Implications.” Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety 2026. doi:10.1111/1541-4337.70542

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