Neglected Sicilian landraces of black broccoli (Brassica oleracea var. Italica Plenck) and health benefits: An in vivo study

Black broccoli is a neglected landrace, grown on the slope of Mt. Etna (Sicily). Previous investigations underlined the relation of broccoli consumption to human health benefits, including cancer chemoprevention. Dietary habit affects the composition of human faeces, intestinal environment and colon mucosal exposure. Diet is also able to reconfigure the microbiota, known to be an extremely plastic entity. Gut microbiota composition was investigated in 10 healthy young people who added 70 g day-1 of young shoots and leaves of black broccoli for 2 weeks. Faecal samples were collected before and after the diet integration period and stored at -80°C. Bacterial DNA composition of faecal samples was investigated by RAPD (randomly amplified polymorphic DNA), and ARDRA (amplified ribosomal DNA restriction analysis) using different primers and protocols. Modifications of microbiota profiles, after black broccoli diet supplementation, were observed with pattern concordance between subjects. For further microbiota characterization it will be necessary to adopt high-throughput sequencing or combined omics approaches.