Does Glucosamine Help Treat Arthritis? A Review of the evidence.

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https://www.healthydocs.net/home/2017/does-glucosamine-help-treat-arthritis

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GLUCOSAMINE SUPPLEMENT OPTIONS

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CHONDROITIN SULFATE

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I wanted to talk about the supplement glucosamine. This is a very commonly consumed supplement, often taken in combination with chondroitin sulfate to help prevent or treat the symptoms of osteoarthritis. In this lecture, I will specifically focus on glucosamine as I have talked about chondroitin in another lecture.

Osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis, affecting an estimated 12.1 percent of Americans 25 years and older. Therapeutic options includes nonpharmacologic interventions such as weight loss, physical and occupational therapy, and surgery. Medication options include acetaminophen, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), intra-articular injections, opiates, and glucosamine sulfate. (source: AAFP)

Glucosamine is a molecule classified as an amino sugar, which you can derive from the name ‘glucos’ = sugar and ‘amine’ = amino group (or a nitrogenous group). In humans, it acts as a precursor to a cluster of molecules called glycosaminoglycans.

Glycosaminoglycans are polysaccharides essentially composed of chains of different types of repeating sugars with proteins and uronic acids attached. (It is more complicated than that, but that simplified version is easy to remember). The purpose of glycosaminoglycans is to act as the bodies natural lubricant and shock absorber for joints. It is an essential component of the structural integrity of the cells in your body, especially in cartilage.

Because of our biological understanding of glucosamine, it is often supplemented for the purposes of treating and preventing diseases of the joints, known as arthritis. Most often, this is in the form of osteoarthritis. Researchers had hoped that this supplement would benefit cartilage and joints, although the evidence to date is somewhat mixed and underwhelming.

Glucosamine may help with arthritis, knee pain, osteoarthritis, hip pain, shoulder pain, joint disease, osteoporosis, osteopenia and joint disease.