Chondroitin and osteoarthritis – large study gives a cautiously positive verdict

A common supplement, chondroitin, has been scrutinised in a wide-reaching review by the Cochrane Musculoskeletal Group.
Osteoarthritis is one of the leading causes of disability. Chondroitin has emerged as a new treatment. Previous analysis has shown contradictory results on its efficacy, so experts looked at the effects of chondroitin sulfate in people with osteoarthritis, including information from 43 studies and 9,110 people. (Most were studies of knee osteoarthritis.)
Results shows that in people with osteoarthritis, chondroitin:
• May improve pain slightly in the short-term (less than 6 months). People who took chondroitin scored 10 points lower on 0 to 100 pain scale than those who took a placebo (ie had 10% less pain).
• Improves knee pain in particular by 20% in slightly more people;
• Had a better quality of life than people taking a placebo;
• Slightly slows down the narrowing of joint space on X-rays of the affected joint;
• Has little or no difference compared to other agents when it comes to adverse events.
Chondroitin is an over-the-counter nutritional supplement that is made primarily of chondroitin sulfate. It is said to work by stopping the degradation of cartilage and restoring lost cartilage. It also contains amino acids, which are essential building blocks for cartilage molecules in the human body.
“The improvement in joint pain with chondroitin (alone or in combination with glucosamine) in participants with osteoarthritis was clinically meaningful and statistically significantly better than placebo, based on trials of mostly low quality,” the researchers comment. “At this time, we suggest that patients and physicians discuss the pros and cons of using chondroitin for osteoarthritis and use it in conjunction with other modalities for osteoarthritis treatment, including weight loss and quadriceps strengthening and appropriate pharmacological treatment.”

Click here to read the original research.

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Image credit: Lisa Redfern