I just wanted to post links to some research on a short list of substances that originated in plants, many of which have been showing promise in treating a great many health problems. One of them is arthritis and more generally, joint pain/cartilage deterioration.
A growing body of evidence shows that resveratrol protects joints..
Other plant substances, notably curcumin, silymarin, EGCG (green tea), quercetin, etc. also are suddenly the subject of intense inerest in the medical research community.
It is not by any means fringe science. These substances, in the last few years, have become the subject of worldwide, mainstream attention.
Molecular targets of natural health products in arthritis
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...7/?tool=pubmed
The antioxidant resveratrol protects against chondrocyte apoptosis via effects on mitochondrial polarization and ATP production
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/1.../art.23799/pdf
Pomegranate extract inhibits the interleukin-1β-induced activation of MKK-3, p38α-MAPK and transcription factor RUNX-2 in human osteoarthritis chondrocytes
http://arthritis-research.com/content/12/5/R195
Effects of resveratrol in inflammatory arthritis.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17115116
There are lots more on PubMed, just follow the related articles links on the last article to get started finding them