This is the first clinical trial to test the benefits of eating broccoli on pain and physical function in knee osteoarthritis (OA).~Many fruits and vegetables in the normal human diet contain substances that may improve human health or disease. There is increasingly strong laboratory data that indicate that exposure to these substances at the levels found in the diet influence the way in which osteoarthritis develops. Sulforaphane (SFN) is a naturally occurring substance found in vegetables such as broccoli and is known to have helpful effects on cartilage cells. Sulforaphane derived from broccoli, has a potential role in limiting pain and cartilage destruction in OA.~The investigators have shown that:~SFN can stop inflammation in mice with OA~SFN blocks the production of the enzymes which break down cartilage in OA, both in cell cultures and in pieces of cartilage~SFN enters the joint in participants provided with a high broccoli diet ahead of a knee replacement and alters the types of proteins present in the joint fluid~The investigators aim to discover for the first time in man, whether a broccoli-rich diet will improve pain and physical function in participants with knee osteoarthritis. The study will provide the much-needed preliminary data that will allow the investigators to design a clinical trial to prove that broccoli can be recommended as a helpful food for people with OA.~The trial will compare broccoli soup (rich in SFN) with a soup, which does not contain broccoli (control), but looks and tastes the same. Sixty-four participants with moderate osteoarthritis will either have the broccoli or the control soup, chosen at random. The participants will eat the soup once-a-day, for 4 days-a-week for 3 months. The investigators will measure pain and physical function at the start of the trial, at 6 weeks and at 12 weeks and look at the changes in these. The investigators will also take blood samples and collect urine to measure SFN levels.
To determine whether dietary sulforaphane (SFN), naturally available from eating broccoli, improves pain in people with knee osteoarthritis (OA), the trial will compare broccoli soup (rich in SFN) with a soup, which does not contain broccoli (control), but looks and tastes the same. Sixty-four participants with moderate osteoarthritis, chosen at random, will either have the broccoli or the control soup. The participants will eat the soup once-a-day, for 4 days-a-week for 3 months.