Glucosamine/chondroitin no better than placebo, but …

The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) published a study back in 2006 that showed glucosamine and chondroitin worked no better than a placebo for knee pain. But patients still swear by the supplements for pains in the back or knees.

Consumers spent $838 million on glucosamine and chondroitin in 2008, which was a one percent increase above the previous year.

The lead researcher for the GAIT study [the Glucosamine/Chondroitin Arthritis Intervention Trial], Dr. Daniel Clegg, a rheumatologist, talked about this paradox with The Washington Post:

Clegg says both glucosamine and chondroitin are broken down during digestion and there’s no evidence that they are incorporated into the deteriorating cartilage that is characteristic of the disease [osteoarthritis, the most common type of arthritis]. …

Clegg calls the results of GAIT [the Glucosamine/Chondroitin Arthritis Intervention Trial] “unsatisfying” and “difficult,” because doctors don’t have many therapies to offer the 27 million adults in the United States who live with osteoarthritis. They can suggest weight loss, exercise and pain pills, but there’s nothing people can do or take to build more cartilage.

[Rheumatologist Dr. Sean] Whelton, who echoes Clegg’s frustration about the lack of effective osteoarthritis therapies, thinks genetic research will help unlock some of the mysteries related to the disease and aging in general. “If we had something exceptionally beneficial or effective, this debate wouldn’t be happening,” Clegg says.

Update 9/17/10:
Those popular joint-pain supplements? They don’t work. (Los Angeles Times, September 17, 2010)

An analysis of 10 studies involving more than 3,800 people has found that glucosamine and chondroitin supplements for joint pain are ineffective either alone or in combination. … The supplements don’t appear harmful, the authors note. But if people begin to feel better while taking them it could be due to the placebo effect or just the natural healing of joints over time.

Effects of glucosamine, chondroitin, or placebo in patients with osteoarthritis of hip or knee: network meta-analysis, (British Medical Journal, September 16, 2010)

This is the full text of the journal article that’s currently being reported in the news. Its conclusion:

Compared with placebo, glucosamine, chondroitin, and their combination do not reduce joint pain or have an impact on narrowing of joint space. Health authorities and health insurers should not cover the costs of these preparations, and new prescriptions to patients who have not received treatment should be discouraged.

Sources:

(Links will open in a separate window or tab.)

Daniel O. Clegg, M.D., et al, Glucosamine, Chondroitin Sulfate, and the Two in Combination for Painful Knee Osteoarthritis, The New England Journal of Medicine, February 23, 2006

Rachel Saslow, Glucosamine and chondroitin fare poorly in pain study, but sales are strong, The Washington Post, March 16, 2010