Researchers at the University of East Anglia have found that eating broccoli could help slow or even prevent progress of the most common form of arthritis.
Results from a laboratory study published today in the journal Arthritis & Rheumatism show that sulforaphane slows down the destruction of cartilage in joints associated with osteoarthritis. The researchers found that mice fed a diet rich in the compound had significantly less cartilage damage and osteoarthritis than those that were not.
The study, which also examined human cartilage cells and cow cartilage tissue, was funded by medical research charity Arthritis Research UK, the Biotechnology & Biological Sciences Research Council’s (BBSRC) Diet & Health Research Industry Club (DRINC) and The Dunhill Medical Trust.
Sulforaphane is released when eating cruciferous vegetables such as Brussels sprouts and cabbage, but particularly broccoli. Previous research has suggested that sulforaphane has anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory properties, but this is the first major study into its effects on joint health.
Researchers from the School of Biological Sciences and Norwich Medical School are now embarking on a small-scale trial in osteoarthritis patients due to have knee replacement surgery, to see if eating broccoli has similar effects on the human joint.
Funded by DRINC, half the 40 patients on the trial will be given a variety of broccoli bred to be high in sulforaphane - to eat for two weeks before their operation. Once the surgery has taken place the researchers will look at whether the compound has altered joint metabolism and if it can be detected in the replaced joints.
If successful, they hope it will lead to funding for a large-scale clinical trial to show the effect of broccoli on osteoarthritis, joint function and pain itself.
Ian Clark, professor of musculoskeletal biology at UEA and the lead researcher, said: “The results from this study are very promising. We have shown that this works in the three laboratory models we have tried, in cartilage cells, tissue and mice. We now want to show this works in humans. It would be very powerful if we could.
“As well as treating those who already have the condition, you need to be able to tell healthy people how to protect their joints into the future. There is currently no way in to the disease pharmaceutically and you cannot give healthy people drugs unnecessarily, so this is where diet could be a safe alternative.'
More than 8.5 million people in the UK have osteoarthritis and according to Arthritis Research UK, the annual cost of the condition to the NHS is £5.2 billion. In 2011, more than 77,000 knee and 66,000 hip replacements were carried out due to osteoarthritis.
