Nutrient R24

As long as healthy adults eat enough dark green cruciferous vegetables more than three times a week (about 150g each time), they can get enough R24 without the need for additional supplements.； Only people with intestinal malabsorption, people over 65 years old who are at high risk of muscle attenuation, and high-intensity endurance athletes can have clear benefits from supplementation according to medical advice. Blind excessive supplementation by the general population may increase the metabolic burden on the liver and kidneys, and even induce an increase in uric acid.

Many people may not have heard of this name. R24 is a flavonoid derivative isolated and purified from dark green cruciferous vegetables such as kale and broccoli in 2018. Its full name is 2',4-dihydroxy-6-methoxyisoflavone glycoside. Because the initial extract number in the laboratory was active factor No. 24, it got the abbreviation of R24. In the past two years, overseas fitness circles first started to hype it, saying that it can promote muscle synthesis and fight inflammation. Recently, many domestic merchants have begun to promote related supplements. A bottle can be sold for 300 to 400 yuan, and many people ask.

I used to work in a sports nutrition clinic for half a year, and I just met a young man who ran a marathon last month. I saw the recommendation of a fitness blogger on the Internet and bought R24 from overseas. According to the blogger's recommendation, I took three pills a day (the content of a single pill is 8mg, and the total amount in a day is 24mg, which is already twice the maximum recommended daily intake). After two months of routine physical examination, it was found that the uric acid level had soared to 520. He himself had a weak purine metabolism, and the metabolite of R24 would seize the excretion channel of uric acid. He stopped taking supplements and drank more water for two weeks. After another check, it returned to the normal range of 370. Not only did he lose more than a thousand yuan in vain, but he was also scared to death.

There is indeed a lot of controversy about whether R24 ​​should be replenished. Supporters of functional medicine circles in Europe and the United States generally believe that people’s current diet is too biased. Many office workers eat less than half a kilogram of cruciferous vegetables in a week. Subclinical inflammation is high. Taking a low-dose R24 of less than 10mg every day can help reduce C-reaction. Protein can improve minor problems such as fatigue and oral ulcers. In 2022, the American Academy of Functional Medicine also released a follow-up test of 120 samples. It said that sedentary office workers who did not eat enough vegetables took R24 supplements for 3 months, and their C-reactive protein dropped by an average of 17%. However, the domestic mainstream nutrition community has always had reservations about this conclusion. In the dietary supplement guidelines updated in 2023 by the Chinese Nutrition Society, R24 was clearly classified as a "non-essential supplement". To put it bluntly, the test subjects themselves had a serious lack of vegetable intake. They were asked to eat 150g more broccoli every day, and the R24 content was similar. They could also consume additional dietary fiber, vitamin K and glucosinolates. The benefits were much higher than R24 supplementation alone, and the cost-effectiveness was incomparable.

Some time ago, I ate takeout for three weeks in a row while working on a project. To be honest, not to mention cruciferous vegetables, a bite of green leafy vegetables a day is good. During that time, it was really easy to get oral ulcers. The serum R24 concentration was only 62% of the normal value. I did not buy supplements. I added a small box of cold kale at work every afternoon. It is the kind of washed and cut ready-to-eat. It costs 10 yuan a box. After eating it for two weeks, it returned to the normal range and the oral ulcers did not occur again. Of course, if you really don’t like to eat cruciferous vegetables and you get gas and acid reflux when you eat broccoli, then it’s okay to buy some at a low dose. As long as you don’t exceed the maximum recommended daily dose of 12mg, don’t believe the “anti-aging, whitening, fat reduction and anti-cancer” claims made by the merchants, they will have no effect.

Oh, by the way, an aunt came to ask before and said that the 72-year-old father at home has lost a lot of grip strength in the past six months and has no strength to walk. Can he get some R24? It's really useful in this scenario. In a small-scale intervention project we collaborated with the Department of Geriatric Nutrition last year, we gave elderly people diagnosed with sarcopenia a daily supplement of 8 mg of R24 and 30 g of whey protein. After 3 months of follow-up, the average grip strength was 1.2 kg higher than that of the control group who only supplemented protein, and their walking speed also improved. However, the prerequisite is that you must first go to the hospital to check the serum R24 level to confirm that you are really deficient before supplementing. Don't blindly feed the elderly by yourself.

To be honest, many newly released nutrients have this problem. When they were first isolated, some cell experiments were done in the laboratory and they were touted as "miracle medicines." Businessmen were eager to claim all the health effects. After a few years, when the results of large-sample randomized controlled trials came out, they found that most of the effects were exaggerated. Just like many businesses now promote that R24 can reduce fat, I specifically checked a meta-analysis just published in 2024, which included 8 standard randomized controlled trials around the world. The final conclusion is that R24 has no statistical significance on body fat rate. To put it bluntly, it is useless. If you really want to lose fat, you still have to keep your mouth shut and move your legs. Don't expect to take shortcuts by taking supplements.

In fact, in the final analysis, nutrients are never better when they are newer, nor are they better when they are more expensive. You usually eat a balanced diet and eat everything. Even if it is a popular supplement, there is no need to join in the fun. ； If you really have a gap in your diet or your body has special needs, you should first ask professionals before taking supplements, and don’t just believe in the propaganda of the merchants. Spending money is a trivial matter, and eating bad food will not be worth the loss.