Is it true that Chondroitin and Glucosamine have no effect in osteoarthritis?
Osteoarthritis (OA) is mainly due to the condition whereby the cartilage in the joint fails to function effectively to cushion the bones from grinding against each other. This could be caused by different reasons (e.g. disease, physical injury). Glucosamine is one of the material the body uses to form cartilage. A shortage of this (say, due to age) could also lead to a lack of cartilage. Depending on the cause of your OA, glucosamine supplements may or may not help. The only way to know is to try and see if it helps. Improvement can take up to 2 or 3 months. Oral glucosamine is affected by the digestion system and the liver. Hence to be effective doses of up to 2000 mg per day have been recommended. Another drawback is that the glucosamine dosage is spread out (diluted) over the entire body. Recently glucosamine creams have been developed. Some of these have high concentration of glucosamine and can penetrate the skin to effectively deliver glucosamine to the affected joint. Check out
