Daily HealthBeat Tip

Ease for the knees?

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

Glucosamine and chondroitin are popular supplements among people with osteoarthritis, whose joints hurt. They’re supposed to help you keep good cartilage.

Does this mean less pain?

Daniel Clegg of the University of Utah tested the pills. His study was supported by the National Institutes of Health and published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Clegg found people with moderate to severe knee pain reported a little benefit. People with mild pain didn’t see even that.

Clegg’s advice: Go with what’s known to work, such as proven pain pills and building a better body:

"Patients who need to lose weight, if they lose weight, their osteoarthritis pain improves. Patients should develop a program of exercise that would help them improve." (12 seconds)

Clegg says if you want glucosamine and chondroitin after all that, it’s your choice.

Learn more at www.hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I'm Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: April 12, 2006

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