 You may remember my series of videos about the engine of aging enzyme TOR. Well kids with autism tend to have higher TOR activity in their bodies, and this hyperactive TOR signaling may actually play a role in causing autism, making TOR a potential target to treat autism, or even theoretically reverse it if we could target downstream TOR signaling, like between TOR and S6K1. Well that's actually one of the ways broccoli compounds kills off prostate cancer cells by inhibiting the signal transduction between TOR and S6K1. Breast cancer, too. Sulphuraphane is a potent inhibitor of breast cancer cells because it targets downstream elements of the TOR pathway. So if we gave broccoli to those with autism, if it blocks TOR, maybe it would block some of the synaptic dysfunction that contributes to the features of autism, and that's in addition to blocking autism pathways for other ways. Oxidative stress and lower antioxidant capacity, the mitochondrial dysfunction, the brain inflammation. And not just in a petri dish, sulphuraphane can cross the blood-brain barrier. You eat broccoli, and sulphuraphane quickly reaches your brain to exert its protective effects, in theory. But you don't know until you put it to the test. But now you can understand why such a study could attract researchers from leading institutions, Harvard, Hopkins, get published in one of our most prestigious journals, Penis, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. But what did they find? Well first, what did they do? A placebo-controlled double-blind randomized trial. Young men, ages 13 through 27, with moderate to severe autism received sulphuraphane from broccoli sprouts, or an indistinguishable sugar pill. They were dosed according to body weight. Those under 100 pounds got about a tablespoon of broccoli sprouts worth of sulphuraphane today, which is about a cup's worth of broccoli. Between 100 and 200 pounds got about two cups of broccoli's worth, or two tablespoons of fresh broccoli sprouts, and the big boys got three cups worth a day or a little under a quarter cup of broccoli sprouts. Why didn't they just use actual broccoli or actual sprouts? Because then you couldn't have a blinded study. The patients, doctors, and parents would know who's getting the special treatment and who's not, and that could introduce bias just through the placebo effect. So instead, no one knew until the end who got the sulphuraphane and who just got nothing in a pill. They chose dietary sulphuraphane because of its capacity to reverse oxidation, dysfunction, inflammation. Yeah, but when put to the test, did it actually work? Well, the placebo didn't give people with autism nothing, and nothing much happens, but effectively secretly sneak them some broccoli and substantial improvements in behavior, social interaction, and verbal communication, but it all disappeared once the broccoli stopped. Let me show you what it looks like. This is the ABC score, the aberrant behavior checklist, which includes things like repetitive behaviors. In the placebo group, no big change, which is what you'd expect, but the abnormal behaviors plunged in the sulphuraphane group, the group that got the sulphuraphane, found in about five cents worth of broccoli sprouts a day. But the study ended on week 18, and a month later, things were heading back to where they started. Similar findings for a social responsiveness scale, significant improvements until the treatment was stopped, and then caught right back up to how poorly those in the placebo group continued to function. And these weren't just scores on a page. The substantial improvements were conspicuous. The doctors could see it. Their parents and caregivers could see the improvements. No drug has ever been shown to have these kinds of effects. And look, these were young men starting age 13. One could imagine it working as well or even better for younger children because their brain is still developing. And look, what's the downside? Broccoli sprouts are widely consumed all over the world without any reports of adverse effects. Now remember we're talking about whole foods, not broccoli or sulphuraphane supplements. Remember I did videos about them? Broccoli sprouts work. Commercial broccoli sprouts supplements hardly at all. Broccoli has sulphuraphane, florets more than the stems. Broccoli sprouts as like 10 times more, but broccoli pills, powders, and supplements have little or none. So broccoli and cruciferous vegetables for all kids, autism or not, and hey, maybe pregnant women as well for potential prenatal prevention of autism in the first place.