Isothiocyanates are detected in human synovial fluid following broccoli consumption and can affect the tissues of the knee joint

Davidson R, Gardner S, Jupp O, Bullough A, Butters S, Watts L, Donell S, Traka M, Saha S, Mithen R, Peffers M, Clegg P, Bao Y, Cassidy A, Clark I · Scientific Reports

The delivery question answered directly, in the tissue that matters: isothiocyanates were present in the synovial fluid of the high-glucosinolate group and absent in the low group, mirrored by higher plasma isothiocyanates and sulforaphane specifically. Proteomic analysis of the synovial fluid separated the two groups, with 125 differentially expressed proteins. No clinical or structural endpoint — the authors describe it as proof-of-principle and say the functional test comes next.

Population

Adults with knee osteoarthritis awaiting total knee replacement

Intervention

High-glucosinolate diet for 14 days before surgery

Comparator

Low-glucosinolate diet

Limitations

Fourteen days, 40 people, and it measures arrival rather than benefit — nothing here says a knee did better. The high-glucoraphanin broccoli is patented by Plant Bioscience Limited with a named inventor among the authors, and licensed to a seed company; the paper discloses this.