Dietary Supplements No Better Than Placebo In Slowing Cartilage Loss In Knees Of Osteoarthritis Patients

In a two-year multicenter study led by University of Utah doctors, the dietary supplements glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate performed no better than placebo in slowing the rate of cartilage loss in the knees of osteoarthritis patients. This was an ancillary study concurrently conducted on a subset of the patients who were enrolled in the prospective, randomized GAIT (Glucosamine/chondroitin Arthritis Intervention Trial). The primary objective of this ancillary study was to investigate whether these dietary supplements could diminish the structural damage of osteoarthritis. The results, published in the October issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism, show none of the agents had a clinically significant effect on slowing the rate of joint space width loss -the distance between the ends of joint bones as shown by X-ray. Comment: One more product highly touted by the vitamin industry shows little effect when studied properly.