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Health
Products
Glucosiamine Sulphate
for Osteoarthritis, joint injuries and pain
The popular nutritional
supplement glucosamine suphfate in often recommended
by natural health professionals as the first
treatment to slow the progression of osteoarthritis
and now new research supports this.
Boston University Medical
Centre arthritis expert Tim McAlindon commented that
the report by Belgian scientists, published this week
in The Lancet medical journal, is a landmark in
osteoarthritis research.
"Scarce currency has been
given to the notion that progression of
osteoarthritis could be retarded pharmacologically,
let alone by a nutritional product," he said.
"The report ... may radically change this
situation."
Osteoarthritis is a painful
degenerative joint disease that affects the knees,
hips, back and the small joints in the fingers. It
afflicts about 4 percent the population and is
present in almost everyone by the age of 70.
Glucosamine sulfate is a
synthetic version of a body substance that helps
build cartilage, the tough tissue that lines the
joints. Laboratory studies have suggested it might
impede cartilage destruction, though whether it does
so in humans remains to be seen.
The supplement is marketed for
the treatment of arthritis and is sold over the
counter in health food stores in New Zealand, the
United States and Britain. In some parts of Europe,
it is licensed as a prescription drug.
More arthritics take
glucosamine and its companion nutritional supplement,
chondroitin, than take traditional painkillers and
anti-inflammatories, and often unbeknownst to their
doctors, said Dr. Jack Klippel, medical director of
the American Arthritis Foundation.
Previous studies have indicated
glucosamine could dull the pain of arthritis, but
experts say the latest study is a watershed because
it shows for the first time that it could improve the
structure of the joints.
"This provides reasonably
compelling evidence that it improves the
disease," Klippel said. "This will lead to
greater acceptance of glucosamine as a reasonable and
safe treatment for osteoarthritis."
The study by scientists at the
University of Liege, Belgium, involved 212 people
with arthritic knees. Half were given glucosamine
sulfate tablets daily for three years and the others
were given dummy pills.
The researchers compared their
knee X-rays at the beginning of the study, after one
year on the tablets and after three years to
determine the progress of the disease.
"The results are
impressive," McAlindon said. "Patients
assigned to glucosamine experienced significant
improvements in pain and disability that were
sustained for the three years of the study, whereas
the scores among the placebo group worsened."
Side effects were the same for
both pills. "Glucosamine sulfate could play an
important part in the long-term therapy of
osteoarthritis," McAlindon said.
The findings may, however, stir
debate over the regulation of nutritional
supplements, Klippel said.
"If this is going to
become an important way to treat osteoarthritis, it
will lead to questions about how the consumer will be
able to tell exactly how much glucosamine is in which
supplement brand."
The study used pure glucosamine
sulfate and the researchers said they don't know if
other glucosamine products or mixtures such as those
sold as dietary supplements would yield the same
results.
The study was paid for by the
Italian pharmaceutical company the Rotta Research
Group of Milan, which makes osteoarthritis drugs.
This product is available
compounded in Syn-flex
and at most health stores and pharmacies. "If you do have
Osteoarthritis and joint pain, Syn-flex combines all the latest scientific
advances in treatment into one formula designed to
end your joint pain, protect your cartilage, stop the
inflammation, and halt the progression Osteoarthritis.
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