Without the advantage of having watched the program, I would say that Holford may be on the right track as to brain-protective qualities of broccoli as a study by Zhao et al found that sulforaphane, found in broccoli and (less so) in other cruciferae, reduced injury-related brain edema in rats.

Ref: Broccoli and the Blood Brain Barrier
Jing Zhao, Anthony N. Moore, John B. Redell, and Pramod K. Dash
Journal of Neuroscience,Sept 2007

Time will tell.

I would, in any event, prefer (and expect where possible) head teachers to spend their school budget on encouraging children to eat foods such as brocolli with its established cancer-protective properties than to spend it on providing unhealthy non-nutritional food and fizzy drinks, which are contributing presently to child obesity which are scientifically proven to lead to chronic ill health such as diabetes and cardiac problems.

A little extra of the school budget to go on children’s nutrition may sound unjustifiable to some, but is a very small cost compared to that of often long term treatment, for those illness that start by obesity.

I know little of Patrick Holford, perhaps due to rarely watching television, but I can see a serious danger to the future health of children as regards obesity, cardiac disorders and diabetes when doctors, in attempting to discredit the ideas of one nutritionist (whether rightly or wrongly) use generalities to dismiss healthy eating.

Above all, do no harm.

As a dietitian I would not expect to be considered a key opinion former on, say, the teaching methods used by my sons secondary school teachers on his educational experience. It worries me greatly that headteachers seem to consider themselves sufficiently qualified to reciprocate with their opinion on Broccoli-for-Brains apparent success – putting their own non-nutritional achievements that likely influenced educational performance into the shade, all to Patricks promotional benefit.

But they’re unlikely to even see this post, given that Patrick spends so much on self-promotion, external PR and the grooming of the nutritionally gormless to pursue his evangelical Rathist cause and ruthlessly try to neutralise the true nutrition experts who justifiably query his trial-by-television messages.

Don’t believe it? Only now, on Holfords round robin emails, does Patrick ‘attempt to do real science’, requesting ‘charidy’ monies from the gullible to ‘fund’ a ‘proper’ randomised trial in a school (but thanks, he’ll take the schools £1k as well, ta). But if Patricks approach to ‘doing’ research is typical of whats gone before, expect the worst kids to be assigned the ‘general group and the ‘clever’ ones to be assigned the fish oils etc etc…..