Glucosamine was no better than placebo for pain or function at short (3 months) and long-term (24 months) follow-up. Glucosamine was also no better than placebo among the predefined subgroups. Stratification for knee OA and type of glucosamine did not alter these results.
In the group that took the supplement pill, 55% reported a significant reduction in pain – an improvement of around 30% or more. In fact, many in the group were extremely enthusiastic about the effect this supplement had, one saying she felt “like a new person”.
In the group that were given exercises to do, 80% reported the same reduction in pain. So, the exercises were much more effective than the supplement – but the supplement was still very good at reducing our volunteers’ pain.
So what was this marvellous pill? As you’ve probably already guessed by now, it was just a placebo. Placebo works very well for joint pain. Glucosamine “works” – but the evidence is that it doesn’t work much better than placebo.
BBCの番組で、リーズ大学（University of Leeds）のフィル・コナハン（Phil Conaghan）教授が、膝の関節痛に悩む80人をサプリメントグループ40人と毎日の運動（エクササイズ）指導グループ40人に分けて、グルコサミンの検証実験を行なったところ、サプリメント・運動ともに同様の結果が得られたそうです。
As Phil explains: “A lot of the pain is coming from the tendons and structures around the joint. If you have trouble getting out of a chair, or trouble undoing a jar, you’re at risk of joint pain because your muscles are weak.”
