Glucosamine is a naturally occurring compound in our bodies that assists in building tendons, ligaments, cartilage, and the fluid surrounding joints. Glucosamine is essential to keeping our joints strong and healthy because it assists in creating elements that prevent joint breakdown. Some recommendations have been made to take supplemental forms of glucosamine (glucosamine sulfate, glucosamine hydrochloride, and N-acetyl glucosamine) as a form of treatment for a range of joint diseases.
Physicians recommend taking glucosamine supplements for osteoarthritis (degenerative joint disease) and rheumatoid arthritis (a chronic autoimmune disease of the joints). Patients at the Mayo Clinic have seen a significant slowdown of knee joint degeneration after taking glucosamine sulfate, but the physician researchers want to pursue research on the effects of joint degeneration in the spine, hips, and hands with this supplement. Mayo Clinic also had rheumatoid arthritis take glucosamine hydrochloride as it decreased pain, not inflammation and swelling.
Mount Sinai also performed research using N-acetyl glucosamine supplements in patients with Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis (inflammatory bowel diseases) to reduce symptoms. The pediatric patients showed improved pain and diarrhea symptoms, but they had a small research group and would like to expand the group to better prove or reject their hypothesis.
Overall, glucosamine supplements need a lot more research to verify its full effects, but we do know it could help us in a few ways. A fun fact about glucosamine supplements is that they are derived from shellfish! Since glucosamine is found and harvested in the shell of the shellfish, people with shellfish allergies are safe to take this supplement! With glucosamine having benefits to improve joint health and irritable stomachs, would you start to take glucosamine daily?
Citations
Mayo Clinic Staff. (2023, August 10). Glucosamine. https://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements-glucosamine/art-20362874.
Glucosamine. (2024). https://www.mountsinai.org/health-library/supplement/glucosamine#:~:text=Crohn%20disease%20and%20ulcerative%20colitis,improved%20with%20standard%20medical%20treatment.
This is super interesting!!! It's benefits, particularly in patients who are suffering from degenerative joint conditions and joint inflammation seem to be really good and promising. Even using it as a way to mediate pain is really beneficial. It would be interesting to know the long term effects of using glucosamines if they were used on a regular basis for prolonged periods of time. Just out of curiosity, for patients that were used for research trial with degenerative joint conditions, was this supplement paired with other medications or were they completely switched to only taking this supplement?
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