Osteoarthritis also is known as degenerative arthritis, is the most common arthritis in the world. Its performance and progress vary from person to person. It is more common in large weight-bearing joints of the lower extremities. The three major symptoms are joint pain, stiffness, and limited movement, patients may also experience muscle weakness and balance problems.
Do you know the best supplements for osteoarthritis?
In particular, the impact of knee osteoarthritis is similar to cardiovascular disease, and it’s greater than the impact of any other disease on patients.
What healthy supplements are helpful for osteoarthritis, see the article for details.
Table of Contents
- What is osteoarthritis?
- Classification of osteoarthritis?
- What are the healthy ingredients that help osteoarthritis?
- 6 common questions about knee osteoarthritis
What is osteoarthritis?
Osteoarthritis is the most common type of arthritis and is a degenerative joint disease characterized by impaired structure and function of articular cartilage (narrow joint space, thickening, osteophyte formation, and subchondral bone cysts) The reason is that the anabolic and catabolic processes in the cartilage tissue are not balanced, which leads to their degradation.
Osteoarthritis affects about 5% to 15% of the world’s population and often results in moderate to severe disabilities, making it the 11th most debilitating disease in the world.
It is estimated that 80% of people over the age of 65 have radiological evidence of osteoarthritis, although only 60% of these people have symptoms.
Typical osteoarthritis often involves the proximal and distal interphalangeal joints, the first wrist metacarpal joint, the hip joint, the knee joint, the first metatarsophalangeal joint, the lower cervical vertebrae, and the lumbar vertebrae joints, either single or multiple Articulated.
Classification of osteoarthritis?
Osteoarthritis is mainly divided into two categories: primary osteoarthritis and secondary osteoarthritis.
Primary osteoarthritis is the most common collection of the disease. The diagnostic criteria are that there are no induced trauma or disease factors, but it is related to the above risk factors.
The occurrence of secondary osteoarthritis is related to pre-existing joint abnormalities, and related conditions include trauma or injury, congenital joint disease, inflammatory arthritis, ischemic necrosis, infectious arthritis, Paget disease, osteonecrosis, osteochondritis dissecans, hemochromatosis, Wilson’s disease, hemoglobinopathy, Ehlers-Danlos syndrome or Marfan syndrome.
What are the healthy ingredients that help osteoarthritis?
1. Glucosamine
Glucosamine is an amino sugar (also known as glucosamine), an important molecule in the biochemical pathway of glycosylated proteins and lipids, and is abundant in articular cartilage, intervertebral discs, and synovial fluid. It is also an extracellular matrix macromolecule such as glycosamine The main components of glycans (GAGs), glycolipids, and acetylated glycoproteins.
Glucosamine is a non-vitamin, non-mineral special supplement, often combined with chondroitin and methylsulfonylmethane, used for osteoarthritis and non-specific joint pain.
Although the effectiveness of these supplements is controversial, it is still one of the most commonly used ingredients, and its use rate is comparable to anti-inflammatory analgesics: acetaminophen.
A meta-analysis of literature (including 18 randomized placebo-controlled trials related to osteoarthritis) pointed out that oral glucosamine is helpful for pain relief compared to placebo (using VAS pain score/visual analog score for pain and JKOM/Japanese knee osteoarthritis scale), but the effect is limited.
Another meta-analysis (including 17 randomized placebo-controlled trials related to osteoarthritis, 2212 participants) pointed out that oral glucosamine may have a small to moderate effect in reducing osteoarthritis-related pain. But it has little effect on joint space stenosis.
In addition, several smaller doses in a day have a greater analgesic effect than a large dose (1500 mg) once a day, which shows that the administration plan is very important.
*Conclusion: As of now, for osteoarthritis, there is insufficient evidence to support oral glucosamine to delay the natural course of continuous joint degradation, but maybe slightly helpful for pain relief.
If you want to know more about glucosamine, please read 4 Glucosamine Benefits And Side Effects for more details.
2. Curcumin
Curcumin has been used in traditional Chinese medicine and Ayurvedic medicine in Asian countries for thousands of years. It is a Chinese herbal medicine used to treat liver disease, rheumatoid, diabetes, atherosclerosis, infectious diseases, and cancer.
Curcumin is a polyphenolic compound extracted from turmeric rhizomes. It is characterized by antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-mutagenic, antibacterial, anti-microbial, anti-arthritis, and nerve Protect activity.
Curcumin has low bioavailability and poor water solubility. Therefore, in order to improve the utilization rate of curcumin, people have formulated various mechanisms to enhance the absorption rate, such as emulsion, encapsulation, and nanoparticle types.
A systematic literature review and meta-analysis (including 7 randomized controlled trials with a total of 797 participants with primary knee osteoarthritis) pointed out that curcumin-based compounds (day Dose-ranging from 180 mg to 2 g, intervention time is 4 to 16 weeks) can significantly reduce knee pain and improve the quality of life of patients.
In addition, compared with the anti-inflammatory drug ibuprofen, curcumin has a lower effect on improving pain relief, knee stiffness, and body function, but it can significantly reduce the frequency of rescue drugs.
*Conclusion: For primary knee osteoarthritis, oral curcumin may be helpful for pain and quality of life improvement, but limited by the small sample size and heterogeneity, more research is still needed to corroborate.
If you want to know more about curcumin, please read 26 Curcumin Benefits And Side Effects for more details.
3. Undenatured type 2 collagen
Collagen is mainly present in skin, hair, nails, muscles, tendons, ligaments, and joints. It mainly provides tissue tension and strength and has the effect of promoting wound healing and tissue repair.
At present, there are more than 29 types of collagen in the human body, and 90% belong to the first to fifth types, and the most common type of articular cartilage is Type II Collagen.
Undenatured Collagen Type II is a new generation of clinically proven patented ingredients. The difference with the commonly seen hydrolyzed collagen is that UC-II is made of low temperature, without enzyme decomposition, and maintains the triple helix structure of collagen. It can retain the most biological activity.
UC-II is unique in that it can act on Peyer’s patches in the intestine, and then train immune cells to recognize their structure, and have an immunomodulatory effect (also known as oral immune tolerance/oral tolerization), thereby preventing T cells from type II collagen in cartilage. The attack of structural proteins reduces the inflammation of articular cartilage and promotes joint health.
A double-blind controlled study (180 days, 191 patients with moderate to severe osteoarthritis) found that compared to placebo or glucosamine + chondroitin, taking non-denatured type 2 collagen (UC-II) can significantly reduce the osteoarthritis index (WOMAC), including pain, stiffness, and physical function.
Another single-blind controlled study (a period of 3 months, targeting 39 patients with osteoarthritis) pointed out that the additional use of Native Type II Collagen (referred to as non-denatured type 2 collagen) in the course of conventional anti-inflammatory drugs (acetaminophen) can show more Significant improvement effects, such as joint pain, physical function and quality of life (compared to the baseline period).
However, the biomarkers of joint degeneration in urine have been significantly improved, and its effect remains to be confirmed.
*Conclusion: The use of non-denatured type 2 collagen may have a positive effect on the improvement of osteoarthritis.
If you want to know more about collagen, please read 6 Collagen Benefits And Side Effects for more details.
6 common questions about knee osteoarthritis
1. Does knee osteoarthritis require surgery?
Answer: Although most patients do not need surgery, surgery is necessary for patients with severe pain or joint damage.
2. Can knee osteoarthritis wear high heels?
Answer: In fact, wearing high heels for a long time will walk, which will change the stress of the joints, which may lead to degradation and increase the risk of knee osteoarthritis.
3. Is the weather-related to knee osteoarthritis?
Answer: Rainy weather will not cause knee osteoarthritis, but some people may increase pain on rainy days.
4. If the parents have knee osteoarthritis, is the child more likely to have knee osteoarthritis?
Answer: People with a family history have a higher risk of knee osteoarthritis, but a healthy lifestyle can avoid reducing the prevalence
5. For every pound of weight gain, there will be an equal amount of pressure on the knee?
Answer: wrong. A 1 pound (0.45 kg) weight gain is equivalent to applying about 2 to 4 pounds (0.9 to 1.8 kg) of pressure on the knee.
6. Is knee osteoarthritis a normal result of aging?
Answer: wrong. Although knee osteoarthritis is related to aging, it is not an inevitable result.
Summary
The health of joints is related to whether we can move freely and unrestrained, but don’t think that degenerative arthritis will only be obtained by the elderly, because the patient has a younger trend, obesity, occupational injury, infection, genetics will increase the risk of suffering.
So don’t wait until something goes wrong. You must pay attention to maintenance since you are young. Generally speaking, as long as you avoid overweight, develop exercise habits, strengthen the muscles of the legs, and take the correct nutrients, you can reduce the chance of joint degradation. So that you can walk vigorously