Efficacy and safety of a compound supplement containing glucosamine, chondroitin, and five bioactive ingredients in volunteers with knee joint pain

Abstract

Purpose

This study was designed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of a compound supplement containing glucosamine (GS), chondroitin sulfate (CS), and five bioactive ingredients for improvement of knee osteoarthritis (OA).

Methods

Sixteen volunteers aged ≥40 years with knee pain and without ambulant treatment participated in a 6-week randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study. They were assigned to the dietary supplement or placebo groups (n = 8, respectively) and ingested six capsules twice daily. The OA symptoms of each subject were determined in pre- and post-treatment periods using a visual analog scale for pain (VAS pain) and four Japanese Knee Osteoarthritis Measure (JKOM) subscales (“joint stiffness,” “daily living,” “social activities,” and “general health condition”). For safety and biomarker assessments, blood and urine samples were tested.

Results

In the treatment group, the subjective symptoms of VAS pain and three JKOM subscale scores except for “social activities” were significantly improved compared to pre-treatment. Among them, the pattern of change in “joint stiffness” and total JKOM scores showed a significant difference between groups (p = 0.008 and 0.041, respectively). The serum level of interleukin-6, a systemic inflammation biomarker, was significantly decreased in the treatment group after 6 weeks (p = 0.019), whereas the level remained stable in the placebo group (p = 0.690). Diagnostic urine and hematological parameters revealed no serious adverse differences following dietary supplementation over the 6-week study.

Conclusion

These findings suggest that the compound supplementation of functional food ingredients has potential as an adjunctive and safe therapy for knee OA.