Saturday Quack – Chondroitin (Again!)

Controversy reigns, and has reigned for almost a decade. Do glucosamine and/or chondroitin help in treating the pain of osteoarthritis? A year ago we reported on a single well-designed study that failed to show much effectiveness. Now a Swiss group has published in the Annals of Internal Medicine the results of a large meta-analysis they conducted.

Twenty clinical trials were studied fully, but only 3 were considered suitable for the final analysis – they each had a large sample size and used the ‘intent-to-treat’ method of evaluation. In this type of analysis, all patients entering a trial are included in the comparison between treatments, whether they complete the trial or not. It was found that chondroitin offered virtually no relief from joint pain involving the knees or hips.

On the other hand, chondroitin did not appear to be harmful either; there were very few side effects. Because of this an editorialist stated: "If patients say that they benefit from chondroitin, I see no harm in encouraging them to continue taking it as long as they perceive a benefit."

It should be noted that people in the USA spend $1 billion annually for chondroitin, which is usually taken with glucosamine - itself found ineffective in a trial published last year. That’s a lot of money for something that doesn’t work very well, if at all.

Comments

[Susan Torrico]

I'm a pharmacist and tried every Rx drug available. Could not tolerate any of the NSAIDs for my osteoarthritis.
For 6 or 7 years now I've been taking glucosamine/chondroitin 3x/day - recommended by a rheumatologist - and have been virtually pain-free (with none of the fluid retention I had with Rx non-steroidals). It may not work well, but please don't tell my formerly aching joints!

[Robert Griffith]

Susan:
I'm glad you're getting relief with glucosamine/chondroitin. Remember that clinical trial results are usually judged on percentage reponders, or average relief achieved; in other words, there will always be individuals (like yourself) who are contributing to a percentage or at the extremes of the Bell-shaped curve.
If it's working, don't fix it!
Bob G.