A commercialized dietary supplement alleviates joint pain in community adults: a double-blind, placebo-controlled community trial.

What Was Tested

This randomized controlled trial looks at Glucosamine and Hyaluronic Acid.

Who Took Part

According to the abstract, 100 men were involved.

By PubMed's age tags, the people studied were middle-aged adults and older adults, both men and women.

Subjects agreed to avoid the use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) and all other medications and supplements targeted for joint pain.

How the Study Was Run

The researchers set it up as a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study.

Random assignment meant chance, not the researchers, decided who got Glucosamine and who got the comparison, which limits bias.

Neither the men nor the staff measuring them knew who was on Glucosamine, so expectations could not easily colour the readings.

Some men received a placebo instead of Glucosamine, giving a reference point.

Primary outcome measures were obtained pre- and post-study and included joint pain severity, stiffness, and function (Western Ontario and McMaster Universities [WOMAC]), and secondary outcome measures included health-related quality of life (Short Form 36 or SF-36), systemic inflammation (serum C-reactive protein and 9 plasma cytokines), and physical function (6-minute walk test).

What Was Measured

PubMed files the paper under topics including Arthralgia, Biomarkers, C-Reactive Protein, Curcuma, Dietary Supplements, Zingiber officinale and Glucosamine.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Glucosamine and Hyaluronic Acid in 100 men.

The abstract goes on to report its results in about 4 sentences; this page does not restate them, so read the paper for the findings and their limits.

The publication is from 2013 (Nutrition journal), a journal based in England.

More context: all human trials.