The manufacturer has scientifically researched the effects and benefits of the product! Trials have proven these products have benefit on the joints.
The absorption of certain oral vitamins etc is accumulative and these products should be taken for at least three months.
Glucosomine and chondritin are said to have better absorption rates when taken in liquid form.
Last edited by Mountain Goatess; 18-06-2008 at 06:54 PM.
Only one who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go. -T.S.Eliot
Nila welcome to the forum! Do you understand the implications of my previous answer?
Mountain Goatess seems to believes that research has shown that Glucosamine is effective. Yet I've just looked on one of the arthritis web-sites and it states that the research is likely biased.
I'd go a step further and say that most of the 'research' was never conducted.
If your surgeon believes in it, why doesn't he offer to inject you with it? The reason he won't is because the pharmaceutical industry hasn't developed it for that purpose. Why not? Probably because they don't see any potential in it.
The human body unless diseased is quite capable of producing all the chemicals it needs for growth, including Glucosamine.
Save your money.
See now I'm just confused because people are giving different answers, both of which are apparently based on science (although I appreciate scientific research carried out by manufacturers could be biased).
If the body produces everything it needs then surely we wouldn't need any form of medication to help us heal etc...but we do don't we? That's why mortality rates have dropped with the advancement of medicine. Or am I being thick??
Never seems to be a simple answer does there! I have recently stopped taking multi-vitamins and minerals because it was suggested to me that I could be taking too much of some vitamins which could be damaging. Now I've got to decide whether to stop taking Glucosamine and Chronditin.
....and I thought this forum was here to help
Nila some people have never needed any medication and still lived a long life. For those who don't recover as well modern medicine has certainly made a difference, but only if the drugs work.
Some months ago we had a thread on vitamin C, and it was highly entertaining. One person was taking many times the RDA of 60mg, in the belief that it would help him.
The concept of need is very important in nutrition and implies a limit that cannot be transcended. So if you need 70mg of vitC a day and you take 71mg, that extra 1mg will in no way force your body into utilising it. In fact it puts strain on your organs in having to excrete it.
Glucosamine though is not a vitamin, and you cannot assume as with a vitamin that it'll be absorbed unchanged.
Does Glucosamine work is an interesting question. Looking at a Cochrane Review (a Review of scientific papers) on osteoarthritis and glucosamine gives inconclusive evidence in that some studies show improvement in pain and function and some don't. What it does recommend is that more studies need to be done.
On a personal note though I believe it to work for me. That is why I take it. It has supposedy has antiinflammatory properties and the ability to help rebuild cartilage. Since I've been taking it my very very mild heal pain has resolved. The thing is if you believe strongly enough that something works then chances are it will do so if someone gave you a dummy pill that looked exactly the same as your glucosamine you may still get the benefits as psychologically its helped.
I remember in my mispent youth as a sprinter my coach told us that if you exhaled really hard at about 30m you'd run quicker. Next rep all of us blew out as hard as we could as we thought it would make us quicker. Shows you that as humans are generally willing to try anything that will make you improve whether it be make you faster or make your pain less or think that you are reducing your risk of injury. Personally I'm one to take Glucosamine, looking at the evidence for me at present is good enough and looking at a case study of myself I would also justify why I take it.
Its horses for courses at the end of the day.
Only one who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go. -T.S.Eliot
Two peer-reviewed studies have shown that oral glucosamine supplements do increase the amount of bioavailable glucosamine at the joint.
This doesn't mean it works, of course.
But at least it means that the supplement isn't being broken down by the body and used to make hair or toenails.
Persiani S, Roda E, Rovati LC, Locatelli M, Giacovelli G, Roda A. Glucosamine oral bioavailability and plasma pharmacokinetics after increasing doses of crystalline glucosamine sulfate in man. Osteoarthritis Cartilage 2005;13:1041-9.
Persiani S, Rotini R, Trisolino G, Rovati LC, Locatelli M, Paganini D, Antonioli D, Roda A. Synovial and plasma glucosamine concentrations in osteoarthritic patients following oral crystalline glucosamine sulphate at therapeutic dose1 OsteoArthritis and Cartilage (2007) 15, 764-772
That is true. But it is an example of the type of studies carried out on glucosamine.
There will always be someone telling us what is good or not good to put into our bodies. Some are there to make money out of us obviously.
Only our own personal research and beliefs help us to make choices on what is best for us as individuals.
Only one who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go. -T.S.Eliot