Leeds Chiropractor Alison Eaves reviews today’s media reports hailing broccoli as a wonder food for arthritis.
As a chiropractor in Leeds I see lots of patients with back pain and neck pain and lots of patients with osteoarthritis of the spine, hips and knees. So it’s interesting to see the news reports today discussing a trial looking at the effect of eating broccoli.
The ‘supercharged’ variety of broccoli is different to your average supermarket broccoli as it contains a super nutrient. The special ingredient is a glucoraphanin compound that the body utilises to produce another chemical, called sulforaphane. This compound has been found to block an enzyme that plays a role in destroying articular cartilage. To date the studies have shown that this sulforaphane compound blocks destructive enzymes in rats but we don’t know if the compound has the same effect in human tissue.
But is this research really new and ground-breaking? We know that a healthy diet packed full of green leafy vegetables has numerous benefits on our wider health. Vegetables are packed full of vitamins and minerals and specifically anti-oxidants that are known to help tissue healing and have anti-inflammatory effects. So it seems logical that the next step is to try and isolate the specific compounds within certain foods and find ways of utilising those compounds. Watch this space!
