Researchers from University of Berne in Switzerland revealed that dietary supplement chondroitin not helpful at easing the hip and knee pain of arthritis.
Researchers and scientists from universities in Bern in Switzerland, Bristol in the United Kingdom, and G?ttingen in Germany, summarized data from 20 trials that compared the effect of chondroitin to either placebo or no treatment in more than 3,600 patients with hip or knee osteoarthritis.
Chondroitin sulfate in combination with glucosamine has been considered as a treatment for the aches and pains associated with osteoarthritis, the painful degeneration of the cartilage in the knee and hip joints, and as such is widely sold in the United States, UK, European countries, Australia, and India.
Glucosamine supplements are derived from shellfish shells; chondroitin supplements are generally made from cow cartilage. In recent years, glucosamine and chondroitin have been widely promoted as a treatment for osteoarthritis.
Study author and epidemiologist Peter Juni, says there is no evidence which suggests that chondroitin helps decrease pain more than a placebo. “There is no evidence to suggest that chondroitin is safe, the product does not work, and should not be recommended as part of a daily treatment regimen.”
The researchers believe that a large, carefully controlled clinical trial might be the way forward.
The study is published in the current issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.