PART I
As I have mentioned in previous articles, when viewing “research,” particularly on the Internet, it is important that you are careful believing everything that you are told about these studies.
Recently, many forms of research have come into question, and many different research studies can be refuted in a half an hour on the Internet, by finding other studies which document exactly the opposite of what is reported in a specific study.
The study I’ll be referencing today is one that was performed recently by the federal government to rebuke the efficacy of two specific arthritis nutritional supplements, those being Glucosamine Sulfate and Condroitin Sulfate. This study was structured to compare these two supplements with Celebrex. The researchers report that neither one of these supplements are any more effective than placebos. However, they did admit that individuals with severe arthritic pain did get some relief from utilizing these supplements. I must admit that I have not yet reviewed this entire research study; however, I have read a great deal about the study, even an article that was published recently in the Morning Call, which had a title that created a negative connotation regarding these two supplements. In reviewing the article in detail, many of the statements indicate that these supplements were effective. The title of the article was “Studies; Supplements Don’t Ease Arthritis Ache”. This, unfortunately, is not an accurate title for the findings of this research study.
Unfortunately, arthritis is a widespread condition with 20 million American sufferers in the United States. That number will blossom to 40 million in the next twenty years as baby boomers continue to age.
Let’s try to understand the motivation for some of this research. Understanding that Glucosamine and Condroitin supplements make up 1.7 billion dollars of all supplements purchased in the United States, according to the Nutritional Business Journal. These supplements have been used more and more over the last several years, in light of many of the health concerns that have been raised regarding some of the standard prescription drugs used to deal with the symptoms of arthritis, including Vioxx and Celebrex.
I would like to make clear right here that these two supplements have no known side effects whatsoever. This unlike Celebrex, which has come under investigative scrutiny by the F.D.A. recently, due to potentially harmful side effects to the cardiovascular system. This research study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Some of the statistics in this study appear to be equivocal. This study found that 60% of the individuals consuming the placebo, or sugar pill, stated that they received some benefit. This, in and of itself indicates that this study may have been flawed in that this is significantly higher than the normally anticipated placebo effect in any study. The normally expected placebo effect of approximately 30%. This alone leaves the study in question. When note is made of the fact that when the individuals who participated in this study took both the glucosamine as well as the condroitin in combination, 67% received relief from their mild arthritis symptoms. 64% taking glucosamine alone and 65% taking condroitin alone received relief. Next week I will discuss how these two supplements did appear to help with mild to severe arthritis.