Thursday, January 29, 2009

No Joint Benefit From Glucosamine Or Chondroitin

September 29, 2008
No Joint Benefit From Glucosamine Or Chondroitin
If glucosamine and chondroitin provide any relief from osteoarthritis 572 study participants weren't enough to prove it.

The dietary supplements glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate, together or alone, appeared to fare no better than placebo in slowing loss of cartilage in osteoarthritis of the knee, researchers from the Glucosamine/chondroitin Arthritis Intervention Trial (GAIT) team report in the October issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism.[1] Interpreting the study results is complicated, however, because participants taking placebo had a smaller loss of cartilage, or joint space width, than predicted. Loss of cartilage, the slippery material that cushions the joints, is a hallmark of osteoarthritis and its loss is typically measured as a reduction in joint space width—the distance between the ends of bones in a joint as seen on an X-ray.

Rather than slowing down the decay we really need ways to stop and reverse it. Some sort of stem cell therapy is the best bet. Gene therapy might end up helping but I expect benefits from stem cells sooner. Further out nanobots will do joint repair. I hope at least one of these becomes available before any of my joints start to ache.

Glucosamine might provide a small benefit. But if glucosamine does provide a benefit it is not so large that it shouts out.

Rheumatologist Allen D. Sawitzke, M.D., associate professor of internal medicine at the University of Utah School of Medicine, was lead investigator. "At two years, no treatment achieved what was predefined to be a clinically important reduction in joint space width loss," Sawitzke said. "While we found a trend toward improvement among those with moderate osteoarthritis of the knee in those taking glucosamine, we were not able to draw any definitive conclusions."

A whole lot of people suffer pain from osteoarthritis. How many do you know that live with constant osteoarthritic pain?

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