Glucosamine 500mg & Chondroitin 400mg tablets for maintaining healthy joints.

Cartilage in joints is one of the first tissues to age and has relatively poor powers of regeneration because of the poor blood supply to the area, even in healthy people. The balance between wear and renewal can be easily upset - a strain, a slip or fall, repeated heavy use, poor nutrition and bad posture can start a cycle of events that will lead to progressive degeneration of the joint.

The natural reaction of joints to a strain, injury or wear and tear is to become inflamed, a greater amount of synovial fluid is produced  and enzymes can be produced which actually degrade the cartilage and synovial fluid. This causes sustained, if not greater, inflammation, a vicious cycle leading to pain and impaired mobility as the body cannot produce enough glucosamine to keep up the rate of repair and renewal that would be necessary. This is especially true with the slowing down of body systems that comes with age.

Glucosamine sulphate and chondroitin sulphate are used to relieve the symptoms and help in the healing of osteoarthritis.

This form of arthritis used to be thought of as a permanent, gradually worsening condition affecting most people as they get older - an inevitable result of the ageing process coupled with wear and tear on joints. In many ways this is true but many people have reported greatly improved mobility with the use of glucosamine and chondroitin.

How Do Glucosamine and Chondroitin Help?

Glucosamine speeds up the repair and renewal of damaged or worn cartilage whilst additional chondroitin helps to neutralise the destructive enzymes and improve the quality of the synovial fluid. Supplementation of a combination of glucosamine and chondroitin - two naturally occurring and essential substances - has been shown to be most effective.

It is likely that supplementation with glucosamine and chondroitin will be long term as the processes which cause the degradation of joint cartilage do not go away with increasing age.

What evidence is there that glucosamine and chondroitin work?

There have been many analyses of clinical trials done on glucosamine and chondroitin. Each one of these “meta analyses” have come to different conclusions. A recent such analysis published in the Journal of the American Medical association which selected 15 studies on glucosamine and chondroitin came to the following conclusion…

“Trials of glucosamine and chondroitin preparations for OA (Osteoarthritis) symptoms demonstrate moderate to large effects, but quality issues and likely publication bias suggest that these effects are exaggerated. Nevertheless, some degree of efficacy appears probable for these preparations”.

A grudging but unequivocal statement from the author that glucosamine and chondroitin do have a benefit in the treatment of osteoarthritis.

Ref: Glucosamine and Chondroitin for Treatment of Osteoarthritis - A Systematic Quality Assessment and Meta-analysis: Timothy E. McAlindon, DM; Michael P. LaValley, PhD; Juan P. Gulin, MD; David T. Felson, MD  JAMA. 2000;283:1469-1475.