Every few years, something new shows up in endurance sports that promises just a little more—more efficient training sessions, less late-race fatigue and maybe a few seconds shaved off your PB. Lately, that “something” has taken an unusual form: a flavourful shot made from broccoli.
Cole Hocker mentioned taking one before his world championship 5,000m win, and Andreas Almgren says he used it in the lead-up to his record-breaking half-marathon. The peculiar supplement is also being hyped by some marathoners and Olympic skiers.
Where the hype comes from
The supplement most athletes are using is called Nomio. It’s made from broccoli sprouts and packed into a small liquid dose, with the active compounds being isothiocyanates, or ITCs. In everyday diets, you get them in small amounts from vegetables. In this form, they’re concentrated enough to have a measurable effect on runners in lab settings.
Some early research has shown changes in markers tied to athletes engaged in hard exercise, including lower lactate levels at certain intensities and signs of reduced stress on the body during heavy training blocks. As reported in Outside, there are also suggestions that athletes can hold on a bit longer in controlled tests after using the supplement. But this research doesn’t automatically translate to a faster 5K or a better marathon.
Why it’s catching on
Runners are interested not just because of the idea of lower lactate; it’s the possibility that this might impact how the body responds to training. There’s a long-standing concern with high-dose antioxidants: they can sometimes dull the very stress signals that tell your body to adapt. The compounds in broccoli seem to behave differently, and instead of blocking that stress, they may heighten your body’s response to it.
Elisabeth Scott, coach and host of the Running Explained blog and podcast, shares on Instagram: “Instead of acting like a traditional antioxidant (which can blunt training gains), compounds in broccoli sprouts called isothiocyanates (ITCs) act as a ‘pro-oxidant’ which may actually help your body adapt more to the stress of training.”
Should you try it?
Even among athletes using the shots, the reviews are mixed, The Wall Street Journal reports, with some saying the training effect of the shots is hard to separate from regular training gains. The shots run close to $40 CAD for four, and the taste is less than pleasant. “We sell it because it works, not because it tastes good,” Emil Sjölander, one of Nomio’s founders, told The Wall Street Journal. He calls the taste “some combination of wood and Dijon mustard.”
The verdict: more research is needed to determine whether drinking the green juice actually yields valuable results. While it won’t harm your training, it might not be worth the investment. “You’ll get way more out of consistent training, carbs, and sleep than a $7 broccoli shot,” Scott writes. “But it is an interesting shift in how we think about recovery and performance.”
