Broccoli has long been hailed as an all-star food thanks to its anti-cancer properties and healthy doses of vitamin C, calcium, and B vitamins. Now, a new study suggests that the crunchy cruciferous vegetable could be helpful in managing schizophrenia. Researchers at Johns Hopkins say that extracts found in the vegetable can tweak chemical imbalances in the brain of those suffering from the mental disorder. They used the compound sulforaphane, derived from broccoli sprouts, to restore glutamate and glutathione to lower levels. Broccoli’s high levels of sulforaphane also mean that potentially it could be used as an alternative to antipsychotic drugs, which often have painful or dangerous side effects. In a study published in January in the journal JAMA Psychiatry, researchers measured brain regions of 81 people who had suffered a recent episode of psychosis. Those patients, on average, showed 4% less of the chemical glutamate in certain areas of…