Researchers at Southern Medical University in Guangzhou followed nearly half a million UK Biobank adults, about one in five of whom reported taking it regularly, then checked who was still alive.
Among 495,077 participants tracked for a median of nearly nine years, regular glucosamine users had 15 percent lower all-cause mortality, 18 percent lower cardiovascular death, and 27 percent lower death from respiratory disease, after adjusting for age, diet, and other habits.
No clinical trial has tested whether glucosamine itself causes the effect, and the study could not rule out healthier habits among supplement users. But the association held after controlling for smoking, exercise, and diet, and it echoed earlier, smaller studies. Researchers now want a randomized trial to settle whether a cartilage supplement sold for aching knees also quietly tracks with a longer life.
Read the original study
Li et al., Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, 2020 · doi.org/10.1136/annrheumdis-2020-217176
A joint supplement, a heart and lung signal.
Source
- Li, Z.-H., Gao, X., Chung, V. C., Zhong, W.-F., Fu, Q., Lv, Y.-B., Wang, Z.-H., Shen, D., Zhang, X.-R., Zhang, P.-D., Li, F.-R., Huang, Q.-M., Chen, Q., Song, W.-Q., Wu, X.-B., Shi, X.-M., Kraus, V. B., Yang, X., & Mao, C. (2020). Associations of regular glucosamine use with all-cause and cause-specific mortality: a large prospective cohort study. Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, 79(6), 829–836. https://doi.org/10.1136/annrheumdis-2020-217176