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NutritionFacts.org Video Podcast

Benefits and Side Effects of Glucosamine for Osteoarthritis

NutritionFacts.org Video Podcast

Michael Greger, M.D. FACLM

Nutrition, Health & Fitness, Alternative Health

4.8952 Ratings

🗓️ 24 June 2024

⏱️ 7 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Billions are spent on glucosamine supplements every year. Do they work? Are they safe?

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Are there benefits to the osteoarthritis supplements glucosamine and can join? Watch this

0:05.7

video in the next one to see what the science says. Global sales of glucosamine supplements is estimated at

0:20.7

$2 billion. Glucosamine supplements is estimated at $2 billion.

0:22.6

Glucosamine is a precursor to two of the major components of cartilage,

0:27.6

though at the marginal blood levels achieved by supplementation,

0:30.6

we would not expect it to contribute much to cartilage formation directly.

0:34.6

There are marked inconsistency in the clinical research literature

0:38.9

as to whether it works at all. The most potent predictor of trial results, industry funding.

0:46.0

Studies sponsored by the product makers themselves showed that their patented products

0:51.1

were beneficial, but independently funded studies showed glucosamine

0:55.6

had no effect.

0:57.8

This has raised serious concerns about publication bias, the suspicion that the glucosamine

1:03.1

industry quietly shelved rather than published any studies that didn't go their way to give

1:08.3

an overly rosy picture in the medical literature.

1:14.6

This is what led in part to the current American College of Rheumatology guidelines strongly recommending against the use of glucosamine.

1:18.6

The proscription against glucosamine is echoed by some expert consensus guidelines,

1:24.6

for example, the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons and Osteoarthritis Research Society international, but not others, such as the European

1:33.0

Society for Clinical and Economic Asperesis Osteoarthritis and Musculoskeletal Diseases,

1:38.3

which allows an exception for pharmaceutical-grade glucosamine. Only this patented so-called crystalline glucose

1:47.2

sold as a prescription-only drug in Europe has been decisively shown to improve osteoarthetic

1:52.6

joint pain or function, whereas the over-the-counter glucosomy supplements sold in the U.S.

1:58.0

offered mixed results with no overall effect, presumably because

...

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