Although the answer may seem obvious to those of us in the chiropractic and nutrition communities, many scientists and doctors do not feel glucosamine supplementation is beneficial for arthritis and related connective tissue dysfunction. Editors of both the Harvard and Berkeley health letters last year were not impressed with glucosamine.
Many agents are under intensive study as potential cartilage regenerators.
All that most chiropractors want is the truth, and the truth is that there has been very little U.S. research on glucosamine, but the same cannot be said of Europe. Furthermore, the rate of side effects is consistently much lower in all glucosamine groups. This is usually provided in 500 mg capsules and is the type of preparation used in the vast majority of positive human studies. However, the majority of experts in the field feel that the NAG form is not effective for arthritis and should be avoided. NAG is metabolized differently than other forms of glucosamine.