What was the dosage of glucosamine that the study participants took daily? 500mg? 1000mg? 2000mg?
This article, and the study, offer little without such information.
It works. As an avid golfer, I was desperate and at 31 yrs old when I refused to let the Neurosurgeon fuse my back, he prescribed Diclofenac (NSAID). This contributed to GERD and offered little relief if any. So, I began looking for something else and even bought gravity boots to hang upside down. I have been taking Glucosamine for 32yrs daily with the help of my “pill box”. The times I have missed it, I hurt. It has relieved my L4/L5 osteoarthritis back pain and spasms. Note: I took 4,500mg for the first 90days @ 75days improvement- now 1,500mg HCL/day
@Steve
The same story here with me steve, I refused to inject my lower back and those pain killers did nothing, had to look for something, but when I tried Glucosamine and chordroition, it was like majic and I feel like I have my back alive again
What type of Glucosamine?
Please stop reporting on observational studies that cannot prove causality. The same studies "showed" that vitamin E and hormone replacement were beneficial, until randomized trials showed that they were actually net harmful.
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@Mark Ebell
This is an interesting study and I'm glad to know about it. I know the difference between causal and correlative relationships and I know that promising studies can often lead to nothing in the end. So please, let the Times do its job and report on studies like these - we readers can exercise our own judgement!
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Another data point here: I have been taking Glucosamin/Chondroitin for years. I know it helps: once or twice when I did not take for several days (traveling) my knees started killing me when descending the stairs. Pain disappeared after resuming taking the supplement.
So dismayed that Medicine does not recognize and promote simple supplements that work. Lysine has stopped my husband from getting cold sores. Saw Palmetto and Cranberry ended prostatitis (that was never helped by all the antibiotics the doctor prescribed.)
We have been amazed that these simple supplements worked, where "medicine" failed. My husband jokingly called me a witch, and perhaps that is apt: we need a little more "witchcraft", meaning being in closer touch with the natural world and the plant derived substances that are as powerful, sometimes better than, "medicine."
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Good news for me at least. My right shoulder became painful after long weekends of laying big heavy slate pavers. The specialist who did an MRI diagnosed a congenital abnormality exacerbated by the damage I had wrought. My choices -- live with it or undergo shoulder replacement. His counsel, live with it. That was 20 years ago. The discomfort and occasional pain were OK but then arthritis kicked in. My current GP recommended Glucosamine and Chondroitin supplements and today although my range of shoulder motion is curtailed I barely notice it. If the supplements also improve my odds with controlled heart disease, I'll take it.
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This is a canine related story. My dog Dunkin, and his sister Donuts, ripped their hind leg ligament, what is known as an ACL injury. They both had surgery to repair the damage but Dunkin seemed to favor his hind leg from that point on. After I started to give him a glucosamine tablet every day he was much improved. I checked the efficacy of the supplement by stopping his daily tablet on several occasions, each time for several days. Within a day or so, he started to favor his hind leg. When I again started the supplement, like clockwork, his stride improved and he stopped favoring his hing leg. Dunkin passed away in Feb of 2017. He lived to the ripe old age of eighteen. Donuts lived until the age of 16 1/2. God only knows how much I miss them. They were two great Bichons. RIP guys, you gave me much pleasure.
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I found glucosamine of little if any help for arthritis. I will wait for further studies before wasting my money.
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@Barbara glucosamine with chondroitin is very expensive. often times there isn't the proper amount in the supplement. I pay Consumer Labs to make sure I'm buying a supplement that is what is advertised. Kirkland (Costco house brand) has the correct amount. You need to take it for about six weeks before you notice any benefit.
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@Marge E. What is the "proper amount"? Thank you.
I began using this supplement in the late 1990's (for my arthritis), after reading about a veterinarian who had suggested his wife try it, as it appeared to work on his furry patients who wouldn't be influenced by a placebo effect. It was (and still is) helpful to me.
Additionally, my family has a unfortunate history of early deaths from heart attacks, as well as ongoing heart problems. Although I am fat and fairly sedentary, I have managed to live to be 77, with no heart-related problems. Who knows(?), maybe it's the glucosamine.
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I followed the link to the BMJ article and learned that 1) glucosamine effects had been identified apart from any other supplements the subjects had been taking, and 2) the effects were most significant relating to current smokers, whose inflammation is likely to be higher than nonsmokers. These results appear significant.
I look forward to tests of effective dosage. Meanwhile, though skeptical about supplements, I’ve got a history of arthritis and am gonna buy me some glucosamine.
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Is Europe ahead of us on this, too? Or not?
From wiki:
United States
In the United States, glucosamine is not approved by the Food and Drug Administration for medical use in humans.[30] Since glucosamine is classified as a dietary supplement in the US, evidence of safety is required by FDA regulations, but evidence of efficacy is not required so long as it is not advertised as a treatment for a medical condition.[31]
Europe
In most of Europe, glucosamine is approved as a medical drug and is sold in the form of glucosamine sulfate.[32] In this case, evidence of safety and efficacy is required for the medical use of glucosamine and several guidelines have recommended its use as an effective and safe therapy for osteoarthritis.
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This study is a textbook case of likely selection bias and therefore getting cause and effect backwards. It is seems likely that persons who choose to take dietary supplements are more health conscious than those who don't. The good health i may be the reason of taking these supplements rather than the other way around.
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@Herbert Berkowitz
It's quite possible that other subjects were taking other supplements. And "the study controlled for diet, physical activity, smoking, disease history and other characteristics." So although it may be hard to tease out the causal relationships here, I don't think it's fair to say that this study "is a textbook case of likely selection bias". Why not give the researchers some credit?
I've been taking Andrew Lessman's glucosamine and chondroitin for many many years. I stopped for a week to see how my body would feel. Holy moly - couldn't wait to take my pills again. I also gave them to my cat who had severe arthritis and she improved really a lot.
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@Bandylion There is a veterinary version called Cosequin. It was prescribed for my cat who was having trouble getting up on a chair, and it definitely helped her.
Which reminded me that I used to take glucosamine-chondroitin-MSM; now that I have more aches and pains in my joints I've started taking it again.
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Time will tell, but if a supplement that costs a dime a day actually lowers your heart attack risk 18%, it’s probably worth it. I’m encouraged that it was a study of half a million people, not 24 or 36.
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I am a 5 day a week walker (formerly a runner. I had serious operations on both knees in my teens. I'm now almost 87. I started to have knee pain 15 years ago and started a daily regimen of glucosamine & chondroitin. I still have my own knees and am still walking. There is no proof that the c & c program helped but it certainly didn't hurt. There's no downside in trying it.
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You know what also reduces the risk for cardiovascular disease? Putting down that cheeseburger you're stuffing into your face right now.
You know what also reduces inflammation? Eating a whole food plant based diet.
No expensive "dietary supplement" from Big Pharma necessary. No "additional data from population studies and further, more solid data from clinical trials" needed either.
Needless to say, Wall Street and shareholders everywhere cower in fear that such a simple approach might take hold in the American population.
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@Greg Gerner
I don't think they are doing any cowering as I don't ever see the American population become primarily herbivores. 3 of my grandparent lived until their 90's. Two of them are still alive. The one which did die, died of heart attack died at 87. and if anything it was more likely caused by the fact he smoked for about 40 of those years. That all being said, one thing all my grandparents have, or had, in common is they all exercised every day and ate sensible portions of food. Regular exercise and not overindulging in food seems to work pretty well with my genetics. I am going to stick with that over becoming an herbivore, but do whatever you feel works best for you.
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I agree. Ask anyone over 100 what their secret is and they will say “eat less”.
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@Greg Gerner Your comment is fitting for some, but is not universal. Heart disease runs on some families despite healthy eating, despite exercise, and other healthy habits. Sometimes medical conditions contribute to it (hypothyroid, for example). Don’t presume to speak for all.
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Please explain what glucosamine is, and what are the available sources of it, other than dietary supplements.
Is it safe? In what quantities? Who's researched its long term use?
These repeated "amazing" discoveries, while interesting to read about, since they appear so frequently, deserve to have some context so the non-medical "normal" human being can make some real world actualizable sense of them.
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@AJ Please google all this. I take it to replace collagen in creaky knees (I am 79) and it worked.
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@AJ
I'm amazed whenever an otherwise smart and good person does not avail him/herself of the info that is so readily available.
To put it in a nutshell;
When we sleep, our bodies replace the calcium that a day of activity has depleted. For some unlucky folks and for the rest of us, as we age, the replacement is not complete -- thus we take calcium supplement.
Similarly when we sleep our bodies replace the collagen in our articulations (knees etc etc) Again for some unlucky folks (like me who has had arthritis since my 20s), and for most of us as we get older, we do not replace all the collagen we have lost during the day. Therefore we replace some of it with Glucosamine and choindroitin. These are natural substance and you can replace those pills by munching on crab shells every day!
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