Women Health and Environment

If you live long enough, chances are you will develop at least some arthritis in your major joints – particularly if you played sports when you were young. Joints surfaces are lined with cartilage cells called chondrocytes that cushion joints and promote smooth motion of one bone over another. Aging cartilage cells get thin and pitted and prevent movement of joint fluid (synovial fluid). The fluid is vital to normal joint movement, nutrition of the cartilage and underlying bone, getting rid of cell waste products and protecting the joints. Many women take glucosamine to help strengthen and regenerate the cartilage cells, but only a few studies have shown that the supplements are effective.

Scientists from Belgium showed that post-menopausal women who took 1,500 miligrams of glucosamine for three years demonstrated improvement in knee cartilage, while those in the placebo group (phony supplement) showed cartilage deterioration. Possible side effects include resistance to insulin and IGF-1 (two important tissue-building hormones), gastrointestinal upset and increased blood-clotting time (don’t take the supplement before surgery). Beneficial changes to the cartilage cells take two to three months because their metabolism is very slow. Take the full dose (1,500 milligrams per day) to get the effects shown in research studies.