An industry-funded study with a rare negative result!

I keep saying that I can often tell who funded a study from its title, and if I know the funder I can often predict the result.  But sometimes I’m wrong.  This is one of those times.

The study:  Effects of Short-Term Broccoli Powder Supplementation on Acute Oxidative Stress and Recovery Following a Metabolically Demanding Exercise Session. Cesanelli L, Venckunas T, Minderis P, Maconyte V, Stasiulis A, Snieckus A, Mickevicius M, Mickeviciene D, Kamandulis S.  Antioxidants. 2026; 15(3):379. https://doi.org/10.3390/antiox15030379

Background/Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the effects of short-term broccoli powder supplementation on metabolically demanding exercise performance, muscle power, and blood lactate recovery. It also investigated broccoli powder-derived sulforaphane bioavailability and its effects in attenuating exercise-induced oxidative stress.

Methods: Seventeen healthy males (age 23.8 ± 4.9 years, height 182.3 ± 6.1 cm, weight 80.0 ± 12.8 kg), in a double-blind crossover design, three weeks apart, consumed ten standard doses of either broccoli powder or spinach powder as a placebo over a period of 2 weeks. They then performed a maximal progressive cycling task with concomitant analysis of expired gas composition. Plasma malondialdehyde (MDA) level was measured before and 60 min after the completion of the task, and blood lactate and muscle power (counter-movement vertical jump (CMJ) performance) were measured before and up to 60 min after exercise.

Results: The main findings were that despite urine sulforaphane output being markedly higher following broccoli supplementation (p < 0.05), which confirms effective absorption and systemic availability of the compound, this did not influence exercise-induced changes in plasma MDA concentration, blood lactate dynamics, exercise test performance, or functional recovery measured as muscle power via CMJ performance (p > 0.05).

Conclusions: In conclusion, broccoli powder supplementation, despite efficient delivery of sulforaphane, does not seem to either acutely affect performance or modify oxidative stress and recovery from metabolically demanding exercise.

Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no personal financial relationships, consultancies, or equity interests related to this work. The Smarter Food Company (Norwich, UK) provided partial funding (unrestricted) and supplied the glucoraphanin-rich broccoli and placebo powder used as the study supplements but had no involvement in the study design, data collection, analysis, or interpretation, manuscript writing, or decision to submit for publication.

Comment: So this was one of those studies where I saw the title and asked: “Who paid for this?”  Why would anyone care about the effects of eating broccoli or spinach powder, when nobody eats such things unless they have to?  The obvious answer: the company that sells such things or is thinking of selling them.  Hence The Smarter Food Company.  But then I expected the study to say that broccoli powder produced miracles, but it does not.  High marks to the Lithuanian authors.