NEJM Study Finds Glucosamine / Chondroitin Effective in Moderate to Severe Knee Pain.

An important new study of glucosamine and chondroitin for treatment of osteoarthritis published in the current issue of The New England Journal of Medicine (354:795-808, 2006) has been reported in the popular press as finding these supplements ineffective. A deeper reading of results showed that the combination of glucosamine and chondroitin was significantly effective in patients with moderate to severe knee pain, but not in patients with mild knee pain.

The Glucosamine/chondroitin Arthritis Intervention Trial (GAIT), a multi-center, $14 million, National Institutes of Health (NIH) sponsored study evaluated the efficacy and safety of these supplements in more than 1,500 patients with knee osteoarthritis. The active 24-week intervention portion of the study, conducted in more than a dozen health care facilities in the US, compared five groups taking either 1500 mg daily of glucosamine HCl, 1200 mg daily of chondroitin sulfate, both of these supplements together, 200 mg per day of the drug celobrex, or placebo in patients with knee pain.

Results showed that neither of the supplements nor their combination reduced pain effectively in the overall group compared to placebo or celobrex. Researchers did find a significant response rate to the combination supplement in patients with moderate-to-severe pain at baseline, benefiting nearly 80% of these participants. All treatments were well tolerated. A smaller, ancillary study is continuing to investigate whether the nutrient combination may alter the progression of osteoarthritis; results are expected in about a year.

NIH released a statement on the study results, noting while the nutrients did not appear to provide significant pain relief among all participants, the ability of the combination to alleviate severe knee pain is promising. The Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN) applauded the study, noting the GAIT findings are supported by the vast majority of more than 50 published clinical trials demonstrating the safety and efficacy of glucosamine and chondroitin in treating osteoarthritis and joint discomfort.

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