Are there any side effects? Glucosamine is derived from
shellfish. Caution should be taken for people that are allergic to shell fish.
Not suitable for Children, pregnant or breastfeeding women or people who have
recently had any form of heart condition or a major accident.Why Do
People Use Glucosamine?
Osteoarthritis
Glucosamine supplements are widely used for osteoarthritis,
particularly knee osteoarthritis. In osteoarthritis, cartilage -- the rubbery
material that cushions joints -- becomes stiff and loses its elasticity. This
makes the joint prone to damage and may lead to pain, swelling, loss of
movement, and further deterioration.
Since the body's natural glucosamine is used to make and repair joint
cartilage, taking glucosamine as a nutritional supplement is thought to help
repair damaged cartilage by augmenting the body's supply of glucosamine.
There is promising evidence that glucosamine may reduce pain symptoms of knee
osteoarthritis and possibly slow the progression of osteoarthritis. For example,
a study published in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine examined people
with osteoarthritis over three years. Researchers assessed pain and structural
improvements seen on x-ray. They gave 202 people with mild to moderate
osteoarthritis 1,500 mg of glucosamine sulfate a day or a placebo.
At the end of the study, researchers found that glucosamine slowed the
progression of knee osteoarthritis compared to the
placebo. People in the glucosamine group had a significant reduction in pain
and stiffness. On x-ray, there was no average change or narrowing of joint
spaces in the knees (a sign of deterioration) of the glucosamine group. In
contrast, joint spaces of participants taking the placebo narrowed over the
three years.
One of the largest studies on glucosamine for osteoarthritis was a 6-month
study sponsored by the National Institutes of Health. Called GAIT, the study
compared the effectiveness of glucosamine hydrochloride (HCL), chondroitin
sulfate, a combination of glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate, the drug
celecoxib (Celebrex), or a placebo in people with knee osteoarthritis.
Glucosamine or chondroitin alone or in combination didn't reduce pain in the
overall group, although people in the study with moderate-to-severe knee pain
were more likely to respond to glucosamine.
One major drawback of the GAIT Trial was that glucosamine hydrochloride was
used rather than the more widely used and researched glucosamine sulfate. A
recent analysis of previous studies, including the GAIT Trial, concluded that
glucosamine hydrochloride was not effective. The analysis also found that
studies on glucosamine sulfate were too different from one another and were not
as well-designed as they should be, so they could not properly draw a
conclusion. More research is needed.
Still, health care providers often suggest a three month trial of glucosamine
and discontinuing it if there is no improvement after three months. A typical
dose for osteoarthritis is 1,500 mg of glucosamine sulfate each day.
Source: http://altmedicine.about.com/cs/herbsvitaminsek/a/Glucosamine.htm
