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Glucosamine Chondroitin Sulphate

(Keywords: Glucosamine Chondroitin, chiropractic help, chicken bones, fish oil health benefits )

Patients with joint cartilage problems, such as arthritis, have probably heard of the possible benefits of glucosamine and chondroitin sulphate. Glucosamine and chondroitin are supplements that are sold over the counter in pharmacies, grocery stores, and health food stores. The benefit of glucosamine chondroitin is still under debate, and many patients wonder if they should bother taking these expensive supplements. It seems that they may help reduce pain but there is no evidence that they slow the degenerative march of cartilage.






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TWO SUGARS


Glucosamine and chondroitin are two molecules that make up the cartilage found within joints. Inside your joints, the cartilage undergoes a constant process of breakdown and repair. However, to be properly repaired and restored, the building blocks of cartilage must be present and available, together with plenty of oxygen and no doubt a myriad of other enzymmes, hormones, amino acids ... The theory behind the use of glucosamine chondroitin supplements is that more of the cartilage building blocks will be available for cartilage repair.




GLUCOSAMINE

Glucosamine is a sugar found naturally in the bones, bone marrow and cartilage of animals. In our bodies thus too.



Glucosamine is an important precursor in the body for the manufacture of substances called Glycosaminoglycans which link to proteins to form proteoglycans which are a major component of joint cartilage.




Glucosamine + water > Glycosaminoglycans + Amino Acids > Proteoglycans >>> cartilage




The beauty of these substances, due to their polar nature, is their ability to bind water (also polar) which is strongly attracted to them. Water, like all liquids, is incompressible giving cartilage its stiff, yet flexible properties. This makes it the perfect material for example from which to build the discs between vertebrae. So when you jump up and down, the water-filled, incompressible disc prevents the bone above from crushing the one below.

The first sign on MRI that the cartilage is degenerating is loss of this water-carrying capacity. A healthy water-filled disc looks white on a scan. As cartilage degenerates, it loses this whiteness.


Notice how it is the degenerated (dark, waterless) discs that have slipped. Maintaining hydrated, water-filled discs is at the heart of Chiropractic. Slipped disc symptoms ...

Hyaluronic acid

Hyaluronic acid is another glycosaminoglycan. It is the major component of the synovial fluid that bathes the cartilage, coating each cartilage cell and swishing about in the joints in your body. It lubricates the joint and binds water to the cartilage molecules.

Without glycosaminoglycans we would be as stiff as the Empire State building. Stiff! A stiff?!! Immobilisation arthritis starts within a joint being fixated - locked. >>



CHONDROITIN SULPHATE

Chondroitin sulfate too is a glycosaminoglycan sugar making up a different important component of cartilage, particularly giving it much of its resilience to compression. It is also reputedly reduces the effect of destructive and noxious chemicals on cartilage. An important component thus of Glucosamine Chondroitin.

There are many different types of cartilage in the body, so the mix of these subsances will vary from one to another. For example the cartilage in the joints between the ribs and the breastbone is different to the 'hyaline' cartilage that lines the ends of your long bones (eg in the hip)

  • Tietzes syndrome , a condition affecting the rib cartilage causing chest pain.

    Hip arthritis , another condition which responds well to chiropractic, except in its very advanced state.


    However, alas the research remains controversial ...

    To test the effect of glucosamine sulfate on hip osteoarthritis:a randomized trial. The effectiveness of glucosamine sulfate as a symptom and disease modifier for osteoarthritis is still under debate.

    1. OBJECTIVE: To assess whether glucosamine sulfate has an effect on the symptoms and structural progression of hip osteoarthritis during 2 years of treatment.

      INTERVENTION: 2 years of treatment with 1500 mg of oral glucosamine sulfate or placebo once daily. (patients never knew whether they were taking the real supplement or the placebo.)

      CONCLUSION: Glucosamine sulfate was no better than placebo in reducing symptoms and progression of hip osteoarthritis. International Standard Randomised Controlled Trial Number: ISRCTN54513166.

      There are numerous other similar studies with Chondroitin sulphate.



    2. Research published in Arthritis and Rheumatism , comparing the effect of

      1. Glucosamine alone

      2. Chondtroitin sulphate alone

      3. A mixture of glucosamine and chondroitin sulphate

      4. Celebrex, an antiinflammatory drug

      5. Placebo

      on five groups of patients with knee pain. The thickness of the cartilage in their knees was measured at the start of the study and again two years later.

      CONCLUSION:

      There was no statistical difference between the five groups and, if anything, those taking a combination of glucosmine and chondroitin did worse than the placebo group.



    3. In the so-called GAIT study reported at National Institutes for Health the same five groups above were studied in 16 rheumatology research centres across the USA. In total nearly 1600 patients. Their findings:

      • 60% of the placebo group claimed a 20% or greater reduction in pain.

      • Overall, the glucosamine and chondroitin groups, both singly and jointly did no better than the placebo.

      • In the group with moderate-to-severe pain (354 participants), 79% of the combined glucosamine chondroitin group claimed a 20% or more reduction in pain.

      • In the mild pain group (1229) there was no statistically significant pain relief.

      • 70% of the Celebrex group claimed a 20% or greater pain reduction.



    4. A meta-analysis of the studies done (reported in JAMA 2000) reported that only 15 out of 37 studies stood up to sound scientific criteria and of the 15, 14 were funded by manufacturers of glucosamine chondroitin sulphate, making them suspect.



    5. On the positive side, research reported in Lancet in 2001 (a strong study which was double-blinded, placebo controlled and randomised) measured the joint space in patients suffering from knee arthritis concluded that glucosamine sulphate did indeed modify the cartilage within knees, and prevent degeneration, and that participants taking glucosamine had less pain and a greater range of motion at the end of the three-year study.





    Chicken bones

    Whilst the Glucosamine Chondroitin theories appear neat and plausible, it seems that there are other ingredient(s) in the bones and cartilage of animals that are necessary for the proper uptake of these sugars and to turn them into healthy cartilage. Rather like natural Vitamin C is much more effective than synthetic Ascorbic Acid.

    My theory is that without the gelatine (amino acids) found in bones that the glycosaminoclycans must bind onto to form the proteoglycans, the actually building block in cartilage, these sugars are of little if any benefit. Thus the gelatine, glucosamine and chondroitin sulphate that you can extract in your own kitchen has proved far more affective in the treatment of arthritis than glucosamine and chondroitin on their own.

  • So, rather make your own GELATINE powder / Glucosamine Chondroitin sulphate. at home. Dead easy.

    From Glucosamine Chondroitin to Chicken bones ...



    FISH OIL HEALTH BENEFITS



    Whilst glucosamine chondroitin sulphate supplements remain controversial and expensive, the research on fatty cold-water fish is unequivocal. It helps arthritis and a heap of other diseases. Follow this link on making your own inexpensive gelatine-rich fish bouillon... FISH OIL HEALTH BENEFITS ...

    IN CONCLUSION

    It seems, especially for those suffering from relatively severe osteoarthritis, that glucosamine chondroitin sulphate may have significant pain relieving properties, though it remains doubtful that they inhibit the progression of arthritis.

    For mild cases of osteoarthritis the research in the main seems to suggest little known benefit.

    Another negative is that glucosamine is made from shark fins, and we know the shark population is being seriously depleted.

    In contrast, both chicken bones and the fleshy skeleton and head of salmon are throw-away products, the remains after the flesh has been removed. It does take more effort than swallowing pills from a bottle, but the cost, the effectiveness and the great taste all suggest to me that the bouillon made from chickbones and fish made in your own kitchen makes good sense.

    Both chicken bones /fish bouillon and glucosamine chondroitin sulphate have one enormous plus. They keep people off anti inflammatory drugs.


    ANTI INFLAMMATORY DRUGS ...

    DUAL ANTIINFLAMMATORY DRUGS ...



    LEMON JUICE

    Lemon juice has, despite its citric and several other acids, an overall alkalysing effect (though I can find no confirmation in any scientific text). In any case, it's full of vitamins and minerals, and anti-cancer bioflavanoids and caroteins. And it's nice! LEMON DROP DRINK RECIPE ...

    INTERESTING LINKS

  • Acromioclavicular Joint fixation and arthritis.

    More Dyslexia problems ...

  • Diabetes Osteoporosis ...

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    Glucosamine Chondroitin

    Did you find this page useful? Then perhaps forward Glucosamine Chondroitin to a suffering friend.


  • PROTEIN

    I'm starting with the vegetable sources, not because I'm suggesting you become a vegetarian, but because there's much research indicating we should eat less animal protein.

    Vegetable protein



    TOFU NUTRITION



    Green snap beans are nearly 2% protein.



    CHICKPEAS



    AUTHENTIC HUMMUS RECIPE ... make it in 4 mins



    LENTIL PROTEIN ...throw a handful in whenever you cook rice.

    Fish protein



    WAYS TO COOK SALMON



    SMOKED SALMON DIP RECIPE

    Free-range Chicken



    CHICKEN BONES ...for osteoarthritis



    Guineafowl, pheasant, wild duck... if you can get it.

    Red meat



    A omega-3/ omega-6 ratio of almost 1 is excellent. Cornfed beed raises the omega-6 alarmingly creating an arthritic tendency.



    We avoided pork in Europe. It has absolutely no taste... but if you can find free range pork... be prepared to pay extra, just eat less. Worth every cent.



    MUTTON STEW