Daily Mail claims that 'Mustard Makes Your Muscles Massive'

An article on NHS Choices website explains how a plant based steroid, used to promote plant growth, has been used to increase the muscle protein of rats in laboratories. Feeding rats HB (28-homobrassinolide) for 24 days caused them to gain body weight and overall lean muscle mass. These effects did not increasing the level of androgen hormones unlike illegal anabolic steroids.

This article is interesting from a scientific point of view, however it currently lacks application to the human population. Brassinosteroids are plant chemicals found in pollen, seeds, leaves and other young vegetation. They are structurally similar to cholesterol-derived animal steroid hormones but have no function in animals. They are used to stimulate plant growth and regulate gene expression. Mustard seeds contain HB, however that does not mean that if human eat mustard, their lean muscle mass will increase. The Daily Mail has drawn false conclusions from the results to produce an article which is considered misleading.

I found this article interesting as it links back to the work I did on hormones, steroids and performance enhancing substances in preparation for my Unit 5 Biology exam.