Earth Pulse – 100% Organic Black Radish Juice 500ml

Black Radish in Scientific Research

Black radish has been grown and eaten across Central and Eastern Europe for centuries. What follows is what the scientific literature records about the plant itself — its chemistry, and what has been observed in laboratory and animal studies and in one human pilot. The research model is named in each case, because it matters.

1. Glucoraphasatin, the dominant glucosinolate of radish root

Radish root concentrates one glucosinolate above all others. Across 71 radish accessions collected from 23 different countries, glucoraphasatin made up at least 84.5% of total glucosinolate content, with indole glucosinolates never exceeding 3.1% [1]. In Spanish black radish it has been reported at over 65% of the glucosinolate content [2]. Glucosinolates are the sulphur compounds that give the whole cabbage and mustard family its character, and glucoraphasatin — also called dehydroerucin — is the form the radish makes [3].

2. Raphasatin, the compound that appears when the root is cut

Glucoraphasatin is odourless and inactive while the root’s cells are intact. Damage the tissue and the root’s own enzyme, myrosinase, converts it into the isothiocyanate raphasatin, which is what gives black radish its pungency [3]. Raphasatin is short-lived: it forms and breaks down at the same time in water, and after ten days at 25 °C only 56.4% remained, compared with 86.5% of the related compound sulforaphene [4]. It also reacts with ascorbic acid and with the root’s own phenolic compounds to form yellow pigments, and heating converts the parent glucosinolate into glucoraphenin [3].

3. Phase II detoxification enzymes in human liver cells

An aqueous extract of Spanish black radish raised the activity of quinone reductase in HepG2 human liver cells, and increased expression of phase I enzymes (CYP1A1, CYP1A2, CYP1B1) and phase II enzymes (quinone reductase, heme oxygenase 1, thioredoxin reductase 1), with the strongest effect at 1 mg of dry root material per millilitre [5]. The study also established which compound is responsible: glucoraphasatin itself was inactive, and the activity belonged to its isothiocyanate breakdown product [5]. This is cell-culture research.

4. Drug metabolism in a human pilot study

In the one clinical study of black radish, nineteen healthy men aged 25–35 took 370 mg of Spanish black radish six times daily for 28 days, with a paracetamol challenge before and after to track how the compound was processed. Urinary sulfate rose 11% and urinary mercapturate 37%, while unchanged paracetamol in plasma fell 40% [6]. The study was open-label with no control group, and the tablets also contained camu camu and acerola, so the result points in a direction rather than settling it — as the authors themselves noted in calling for a randomised, placebo-controlled trial [6].

5. Antioxidant activity, measured in the root and in rats

Black radish root extracts show measurable radical-scavenging activity in vitro: 35.5% in the DPPH assay and 48.0% in the ABTS assay for juice pressed from peeled root, with total phenolics of 4.87–8.92 mg gallic acid equivalents per gram of dry weight depending on extraction [7]. Phenolic content varies sharply by plant part — 4.75 mg/g in black radish root against 10.52 in the seed and 19.44 in three-day sprouts [8]. In rats fed a high-fat, high-cholesterol diet, squeezed black radish juice lowered lipid peroxidation products and raised erythrocyte glutathione peroxidase activity [9].

6. Lipid metabolism and gallstone formation in mice

Female C57BL/6 mice were fed a lithogenic diet (2% cholesterol, 0.5% cholic acid) for 34 days, then given juice squeezed from fresh black radish root by gastric tube for six days, at 0.1 mL per 10 g of body weight, either undiluted or diluted ten- or hundred-fold. Cholesterol fell, triglycerides normalised and HDL rose in the treated groups, and the 0.4–0.8 mm cholesterol gallstones were cleared in the undiluted and ten-fold groups — where the ursodeoxycholic acid comparator left them in place [10]. The authors note that gallbladder wall thickening persisted and that no single active compound was identified. This is a six-day study in roughly six animals per group.

7. The colonic lining in rats on a high-fat diet

A fat-rich diet damaged the colonic epithelium in rats and reduced the numbers of enterocytes and goblet cells. Black radish root given alongside the same diet improved that histological picture and the animals’ redox parameters [11]. Rats, not people, and a histology endpoint rather than a clinical one.

8. Immune signalling in macrophages

A hot-water extract of black radish root activated RAW 264.7 mouse macrophages and primary mouse peritoneal macrophages, increasing nitric oxide, reactive oxygen species, phagocytosis and the mediators IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α, iNOS and COX-2. Blocking TLR2 or TLR4 reduced the response, TLR4 more strongly, and the authors trace the effect through a TLR2/4–MAPK–NF-κB–Akt–STAT3 pathway [12]. Mouse cells in culture.

References

1. Yi G, Lim S, Chae WB, Park JE, Park HR, Lee EJ, Huh JH. Root glucosinolate profiles for screening of radish (Raphanus sativus L.) genetic resources. J Agric Food Chem. 2016;64(1):61–70. doi:10.1021/acs.jafc.5b04575
2. Evans M, Paterson E, Barnes DM. An open label pilot study to evaluate the efficacy of Spanish black radish on the induction of phase I and phase II enzymes in healthy male subjects. BMC Complement Altern Med. 2014;14:475. doi:10.1186/1472-6882-14-475
3. Montaut S, Barillari J, Iori R, Rollin P. Glucoraphasatin: chemistry, occurrence, and biological properties. Phytochemistry. 2010;71:6–12. doi:10.1016/j.phytochem.2009.09.021
4. Kim J-W, Kim M-B, Lim S-B. Formation and stabilization of raphasatin and sulforaphene from radish roots by endogenous enzymolysis. Prev Nutr Food Sci. 2015;20(2):119–125. doi:10.3746/pnf.2015.20.2.119
5. Hanlon PR, Webber DM, Barnes DM. Aqueous extract from Spanish black radish (Raphanus sativus L. Var. niger) induces detoxification enzymes in the HepG2 human hepatoma cell line. J Agric Food Chem. 2007;55(16):6439–6446. doi:10.1021/jf070530f
6. See reference 2 — Evans M, Paterson E, Barnes DM. BMC Complement Altern Med. 2014;14:475. doi:10.1186/1472-6882-14-475
7. Enkhtuya E, Lhamsuren E, Tsend M. Effect of heat on antioxidant capacity of black radish (Raphanus sativus L. var. niger) root. J Food Nutr Res. 2022;10(3):221–227. doi:10.12691/jfnr-10-3-7
8. Borș MD, Semeniuc CA, Socaci S, Vârva L, Moldovan O, Vlaic R, Tofană M. Total phenolic content and antioxidant capacity of radish as influenced by the variety and vegetative stage. Bull Univ Agric Sci Vet Med Cluj-Napoca Food Sci Technol. 2015;72(1):78–81. doi:10.15835/buasvmcn-fst:11087
9. Lugasi A, et al. Antioxidant effect of squeezed juice from black radish (Raphanus sativus L. var niger) in alimentary hyperlipidaemia in rats. Phytother Res. 2005. doi:10.1002/ptr.1655. PMID 16161062
10. Castro-Torres IG, Naranjo-Rodríguez EB, et al. Antilithiasic and hypolipidaemic effects of Raphanus sativus L. var. niger on mice fed with a lithogenic diet. J Biomed Biotechnol. 2012;2012:161205. doi:10.1155/2012/161205
11. Sipos P, Hagymási K, Lugasi A, Fehér E, Blázovics A. Effects of black radish root (Raphanus sativus L. var niger) on the colon mucosa in rats fed a fat rich diet. Phytother Res. 2002;16(7):677–679. doi:10.1002/ptr.950
12. Jeon H, Oh S, Kum E, Seo S, Park Y, Kim G. Immunomodulatory effects of an aqueous extract of black radish on mouse macrophages via the TLR2/4-mediated signaling pathway. Pharmaceuticals. 2022;15(11):1376. doi:10.3390/ph15111376