Nutritional Advice El Mondo
Objectives:
Although glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate have showed beneficial effects on joint tissues in osteoarthritis (OA), their therapeutic use in the clinical setting is still debatable. Therefore, this meta-analysis (systematic review) has been conducted.
Do glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate supplements relieve pain of knee osteoarthritis?
Study design:
This review article included RCTs.
The pain of knee osteoarthritis was measured using the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis index (WOMAC) and/or the Visual Analog Scale (VAS).
Results and conclusions:
The investigators found that glucosamine supplements significantly reduced pain of knee osteoarthritis (expressed as Visual Analog Scale (VAS) [WMD = - 7.41 mm, 95% CI = - 14.31 to - 0.51, p = 0.04].
Significant means that there is an association with a 95% confidence.
The investigators found that chondroitin supplements significantly reduced pain of knee osteoarthritis (expressed as Visual Analog Scale (VAS) [WMD = - 8.35 mm, 95% CI = - 11.84 to - 4.85, p 0.00001].
Significant because the found p-value of 0.00001 is less than 0.05.
The investigators found that the combination of glucosamine and chondroitin supplements non-significantly reduced pain of knee osteoarthritis (expressed as Visual Analog Scale (VAS) [WMD = - 0.28 mm, 95% CI = - 8.87 to 8.32, p = 0.95].
Non-significantly because the found p-value of 0.95 is greater than 0.05.
The investigators found that none of the glucosamine, chondroitin supplements or their combination had a significant positive effect on the total WOMAC index and its subscores.
The investigators concluded that oral supplementation with glucosamine or chondroitin sulfate reduces pain in knee osteoarthritis. However, there is no additional effect using both therapeutic agents in combination for the management of symptomatic knee osteoarthritis.
Original title:
Effect of glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate in symptomatic knee osteoarthritis: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized placebo-controlled trials by Simental-Mendía M, Sánchez-García A, […], Simental-Mendía LE.
Link:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29947998
Additional information of El Mondo:
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