Glucosamine supplements for arthritis do not work, new study shows

[Breaking News Breaking News]

By Andrew M Brown

Millions of Brits suffer the debilitating pain of osteoarthritis, and that number is liable to grow as the baby boomers enter their twilight years. In February I reported that GPs had embraced an alternative remedy or food supplement, for arthritic pain in hips or knees, called glucosamine. The remedy is marketed as Alateris, and doctors prescribe millions of pounds worth of tablets every year.

By December 2008, spending in England had climbed to £4 million – when only five years before the figure was less than half a million. Mind you, those figures are peanuts when you compare them with what we all spend privately on this kind of supplement.

We splashed out nearly £2 billion on glucosamine and chondroitin (a similar remedy) in 2008 – a 60 per cent increase in five years.

The evidence for the effectiveness of these treatments has never been strong, which is why they’re considered “complementary”. But doctors prescribe them for understandable reasons: they don’t do any harm, for one thing; whereas some of the medical treatments for joint pain can cause dangerous side-effects. Long-term use of anti-inflammatory drugs is associated with stomach and heart problems. The clincher, as far as prescribers are concerned, is probably good old patient choice. That is to say, patients believe in glucosamine. They want it; it does no harm: why not give it a go?

Now a professor in Switzerland and his team have analysed (in the BMJ) 10 published trials to try and find out if there’s any evidence that glucosamine and chondroitin actually do what they’re supposed to – relieve pain. The trials involved 3,803 patients suffering from osteoarthritis of the hip or knee. They assessed changes in levels of pain after patients took glucosamine, chondroitin, or their combination, compared with placebo.

Professor Peter Jüni and his team at the University of Bern found no “clinically relevant effect” of glucosamine or chondroitin, or a combination of the two, on perceived joint pain.

“Compared with placebo, glucosamine, chondroitin, and their combination do not reduce joint pain or have an impact on narrowing of joint space,” they said. “Health authorities and health insurers should be discouraged from funding glucosamine and chondroitin treatment.”

They’re not saying patients should stop taking the tablets, note. There’s “no harm” in them, in their view. They just don’t want the taxpayer to fork out for the pills. If people want them, they should dig into their own pockets to pay for them.

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/andrew...udy-shows/

[light]

We all know what works but we cant have..... lol

 

[Richard]

This is true, cannabis works better than any natural supplements or chemical medications.