Glucosamine as Effective as Regular Exercise in Reducing Death Rates

A recent study led by Dana King, a professor and chair of the Department of Family Medicine, along with research partner Jun Xiang, have found that glucosamine supplements may reduce overall mortality almost as well as regular exercise does. The new epidemiological study has provided encouraging results that are good indicators supporting their analysis.

The partners assessed data from 16,686 adults who had completed the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 1999 to 2010. The participants were all at least 40 years of age. They then merged their data with 2015 mortality figures.

After controlling for a variety of factors such as the participants sex, age, activity level and smoking status, they found that taking glucosamine/chondroitin every day for a year or longer was linked to a 39% reduction in all-cause mortality and a 65% reduction in cardiovascular related deaths. This category of disease includes coronary artery disease, stroke and heart disease and is the United States biggest killer.

Once they took everything into account, the impact shown was quite significant. The findings do not imply that anyone should skip regular exercise, but rather that adding this particular supplement would also be beneficial. And while this was an epidemiological study rather than a clinical trial and doesn’t offer definitive proof that this supplement makes death less likely, the results certainly are intriguing.

To view the original scientific study click below

Glucosamine/Chondroitin and Mortality in a US NHANES Cohort.