Don’t waste another dime on these arthritis supplements

If you suffer from joint pain, you might get some relief from taking a few supplements. But what if you found out that relief is mostly due to a placebo effect? Would that put an end to the benefits you felt from those supplements?

Maybe. Maybe not.

The placebo effect works when a patient is unaware the medication they’re using lacks an active ingredient (a so-called “sugar pill”), yet they still claim to feel beneficial effects.

That’s how it’s supposed to work. But recent research out of Harvard shows that even after some patients are told they’re taking a placebo (and fully understand it doesn’t have an active ingredient), some still claim to feel a therapeutic effect.

So, if you were to discover that two common joint pain supplements — glucosamine and chondroitin — were almost certainly a placebo effect, would you stop taking them for pain relief?

Well, I wouldn’t want to take that away from you. But you should be aware that years of research shows that these two widely-used supplements probably have little — if any — genuine therapeutic effect on your joints.

Coming up short in supplement efficacy

For decades, glucosamine supplements (GS) and chondroitin supplements (CS) have been common treatment aids for arthritis patients. The use of these supplements is so pervasive that many conventional doctors routinely recommend their use.

But there are two good reasons why that should stop, especially for patients who aren’t benefiting from the placebo effect.

Reason one: Safety. Side effects of glucosamine and chondroitin are generally mild. They most commonly include heartburn, headaches, and drowsiness. But in one recent trial, it wasn’t the side effects, but a surprising lack of efficacy that derailed the study.

Researchers with the CS/GS Combined Therapy Study Group in Madrid, Spain, conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study that included 164 participants. All the volunteers had moderate-to-severe knee pain due to knee osteoarthritis (OA). Half the group received a combination treatment of GS (1,500 mg) and CS (1,200 mg), while the other half used a placebo.

At six months, researchers stopped the study before its conclusion. A safety monitoring board discovered that the placebo group was reporting greater pain relief than the GS/CS supplement group. In addition, some of the participants who used the supplements reported abdominal pain and diarrhea.

This outcome was highly unusual. In general, research on the two supplements have shown that their therapeutic effects are modest at best, but it’s far more common for them to perform equally to placebo… not worse.

Reason two: Cost. GS and CS products tend to be inexpensive, but even so, arthritis patients in America will spend more than $700 million dollars this year on GS, CS, or supplement formulas combining the two.

That’s a staggering price tag for a treatment that might work worse than no treatment at all.

A long trek from tongue to cartilage

If you’re an arthritis patient who uses glucosamine and chondroitin, this assessment of your supplements might come as a shock. So for some insightful background about these supplements, there’s no one better to turn to than Dr. Marc Micozzi, who’s not only an expert on this topic, but also an OA knee patient himself.

In his Arthritis Relief and Reversal Protocol, Dr. Micozzi explains that glucosamine and chondroitin are naturally-occurring chemicals in your body that act like a maintenance crew — creating and repairing cartilage, the cushion between joints.

So why don’t supplement versions of these substances work?

Dr. Micozzi starts with some background: “Glucosamine is a key component of joints. But scientists and medical doctors have questioned for decades whether the glucosamine in a supplement can be absorbed into joint tissues. In fact, say many experts, when you take glucosamine by mouth it’s destroyed in the gastrointestinal tract or the bloodstream before it can even reach your joints.”

Glucosamine doesn’t make it through the gut because it’s a sugar amine. Dr. Micozzi notes that one part of glucosamine is glucose — the “blood sugar” your body needs and uses for energy. The other part — an amine — is a component of protein which is easily broken down by enzymes and digestion.

This is why, he says, “The chances of glucosamine successfully making the trek all the way from your mouth to your cartilage — let alone being utilized once it gets there — is very low.”

Yes, there’s a much better way

As for chondroitin, Dr. Micozzi points out that this molecule has its own issues, starting with where it comes from: “A lot of chondroitin is sourced from chicken cartilage or ‘marine’ cartilage from sharks or skates. Even chondroitin enthusiasts admit that chicken-sourced supplements flat out don’t work, and that marine-sourced supplements have too little chondroitin in them to do you any good.

“Cow and pig chondroitin are better sources — if there really IS a better source.”

And chondroitin has another problem which it shares with glucosamine: Can your body absorb and utilize it?

Dr. Micozzi adds additional questions: “Does the chondroitin in a supplement even reach your cartilage? Once there, does it work? Scientists haven’t been able to definitively answer those questions. For example, if you look at REAL clinical studies, on thousands of patients, they show only borderline benefits for chondroitin, at best.”

If you feel like you’re getting results from glucosamine and chondroitin supplements, and you’re not experiencing side effects — by all means — continue using them. But at the same time, Dr. Micozzi believes you’ll get more effective, long-lasting relief from arthritis pain with nutritional and herbal supplements that target the common source of all joint pain: inflammation.

You can learn much more about how and which natural supplements fight inflammation and arthritic conditions in Dr. Micozzi’s Arthritis Relief and Reversal Protocol. For more information about this protocol, or to enroll today, simply click here.

 

 

SOURCES

https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/the-latest-on-glucosaminechondroitin-supplements-2016101710391
The latest on glucosamine/chondroitin supplements
Harvard Health Blog
October 17, 2016