Do these tablets have any effect at all?
Not cheap and having tried them on & off for maybe 2 years I am unsure if there’s any difference at all!

Does anyone have proof or experience of them making a positive difference?
I took them along with cod liver oil tablets as I have the knees of an 85 year old (apologies to all the 85yr olds reading this).
Tim

yes. really helped my aching knees and fingers after a month of 1500mg daily. That’s the recommended daily dose but many tablets come in much lower amounts.

I’ve stopped taking them – tried for a couple of years (proper doses) and they’ve had sod-all effect i can notice .

glucosamine is the ‘bees knees’ sorted my joints out anyway, took them for a minimum of 6 months before I noticed any effect and reversed the joint pain I would get if walking for any length of time, so keep taking the tablets. I know at least 5 people who have followed my suggestion and taken them with good effect, so theres your proof. Not so sure about the need to take cod liver oil for long periods, you might want to check the long term effects there.

They seem to help our dog and I think he’s pretty much immune to the placebo effect. I don’t know of any proper studies though.

I too have tried the tablets with my elderly mutts of 10 & 14, but they seem unwilling to fill in the feed-back forms that I give them!
Again, I haven’t seen any marked difference, although the cod liver oil has a marked effect on their coats.

So does anyone have any recommendations on which ones to buy? I had 2months of boots own & they didn’t seem to do much.

There’s some advertised in the weekend newspaper magazine that claim to be “pharmacutical grade ingredients”, would these be any different? I suspect not, but they’re cheaper than others i’ve seen in the shops.

IIRC proper double blind studies show little measurable effect and it certainly did nowt for me. However the anecdotal evidence such as posted above is very strongly positive!

If it works for you then fine – if not then don’t bother – always worth a try and you do need to take high doses for months to have any effect

I’ve been taking glucosamine for about 8 years. Unfortunately, the cheap ones (Boots own, or the mail order cheapies) just don’t work. Expect to pay £19.99 for 90 tablets, I’m currently using Holland and Barrat Glucosamine with MSM. Don’t get their cheap stuff either. High5, the energy suppliments brand, used and may still do ‘joint formular’ I found these worked well. But, having done a bit of research, there was a suggestion that CHONDROITING was shown to have a affect on prostrate problems – making them worse, there was some advice in the Sunday Times that men over 40, should avoid chondroiting. I’ve stopped the chondroiting with no noticeable effect.

I have found that good quality glucosamine, with MSM (can be taken seperately) does have a positive affect on my knee joints. But, as already said, needs to be taken as part of your daily regime. It’s not a pain killer and a couple of weeks or a month isn’t going to produce the effects you may wish. High5 state 6 weeks use before any benefits are noticed on average.

I believe the anecdotal evidence suggests a more pronounced effect from taking glucosamine tablets if your condition is more severe. i.e., for mild achy knees, you won’t see much difference, but where there is a serious defect they can really help.

I had a knee op a few years ago, having torn my meniscus and articulate cartilage. I take glucosamine tablets now when I expect to be abusing my knees more than usual e.g., I’ll start taking them for a week before a snowboarding holiday. So far, I feel they have helped. However, that’s not a scientific study, and it may just be a placebo effect anyway.

But, if it helps me…

Edit: I remember my consultant telling me there was no scientific proof for the effectiveness of Glucosamine, but several of patients had reported good things, so I should try it and see what it did for me. He did make the point that the ones with chondritin were no better than plain glucosamine though.

There’s virtually no medical evidence to state either of them work, but then there’s no medical evidence for any form of vitamin supplementation in anything but the chronically undernourished and we take ,millins of those stupid little things.

I use the powder as I have read that this gets to absorbed faster and feel that it works for me.

holland and barrats used to have a liquid one (between 10 and 15 quid depending on the offer) for a months worth, it was orange flavoured – i’ve tried many of them i felt that this had the most benefit – the cheap holland and barrett ones (own brand) in pill form did me no benefit thou.

my father in law had a dodgy shoulder and used to play a lot of golf and had to near enough stop – he had a lot of treaments on it, then tried glucosowotsit on my recomendation, and it’s done him the world of good – i didn’t think it’d work to be honest.

My advice – get good ones – make sure the dose is correct (i’ve heard there’s an issue with ‘sulphates’ or something and try it for at least a couple of months – i’ve noticed that it does have some postive effects in that if you go too much on your knees and stuff em up then they feel right again sooner on the juice.

Used glucosamine when kickboxing and the only thing I have taken which has had a noticeable benefit. Back on the Glucosamine as I’ve noticed it helps with arm pump and sore hands when during long descents or riding all day at Fort Bill. Takes a few weeks / month before the benefit really kicks in..but my experience with or without …less pain and discomfort after excercise with than without.

My doc advised me to do knee exercises to cut out my knee pain. It probably depends on the type of knee problem, but i found that strengthening the muscles and tendons around my knee helped enormously. I was pain free for years. Riding a singlespeed for my commute brought the pain back, so i cut that out and unless i run i’m pain free again.

I’ve tried them in the past with no noticable effects (though anectodotal evidence is pretty meaningless). However after reading on many forums that it depends on the supplier of the tablets/liquid as to how well they worked, I decided that there was either far too much marketing, or far too little quality control for the product to work even as a placeabo for me.

I am a total convert to glucosamine tablets. I have had problems for years with my knees and they hurt pretty much all the time. After tearing my knee ligaments a few years ago it got worse and someone recommended glucosamine – now if I forget to take the tablets or go away without them I can feel it getting worse after a week or so. Maybe it’s placebo but I have tried other things which didn’t help.

Anyway, I buy them from this company which makes high doses and is a lot cheaper than Boots or in a healthfood shop.
http://www.naturesbest.co.uk/Pure-Glucosamine-Sulphate-2KCl-1000mg-P546/