Popular Arthritis Supplement No Good For Pain

A review of 20 studies suggests that chondroitin, a supplement taken by up to seven million Americans to relieve pain in arthritic joints, has little or no effect.

"Originally, the premise behind the use of chondroitin and glucosamine was that they provided the basic elements of healthy cartilage," said Dr. Dennis Boulware, professor of medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

But Dr. Eric Matteson, chair of the division of rheumatology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., stated, "There is no biologically plausible way that [chondroitin] can work to repair joints damaged by arthritis."

The reason for this, he says, is that even if one were to consume a large amount of the substances that make up cartilage, it seems unlikely that these building blocks would be able to reach the joint where they would be useful, as the cartilage in many joints has no blood supply.

"The substance has to be made and used by cartilage cells to work," Matteson added. "Cells damaged by arthritis cannot do this."

Moreover, Boulware said, "If they really believed that premise, then bald men should eat more healthy hair."