Glucosamine and Chondroitin Sulfate: No Better Than Placebo in Slowing Cartilage Loss

Filed in archive Arthritis , Pain Management , Studies , Treatment on October 1, 2008

Photo courtesy of iStockphoto, Sebastian Kaulitzki

Glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate are two of the most popular dietary supplements used for the treatment of arthritis and joint pain.

Now, according to a University of Utah study, glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate performed no better than placebo in slowing the rate of cartilage loss in the knees of osteoarthritis patients.

This was an ancillary study concurrently conducted on a subset of the patients who were enrolled in the prospective, randomized GAIT (Glucosamine/chondroitin Arthritis Intervention Trial). The primary objective of this ancillary study was to investigate whether these dietary supplements could diminish the structural damage of osteoarthritis.

In this ancillary study, GAIT patients were offered the opportunity to continue their original study treatment for an additional 18 months, for a total of two years. Participants remained on their originally assigned GAIT treatment: 500 mg of glucosamine three times a day; or 400 mg of chondroitin sulfate three times a day; or a combination of the two supplements; or 200 mg of celecoxib daily; or a placebo.

The findings, published in the October issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism, revealed that none of the agents had a clinically significant effect on slowing the rate of joint space width loss -the distance between the ends of joint bones as shown by X-ray.

Read more from University of Utah.