Written by Joyce Smith, BS. Supplementation with a non-animal chondroitin sulfate significantly improved knee function, pain, and inflammation markers in participating overweight subjects with moderate knee osteoarthritis.
Predictions are that by the year 2020, knee osteoarthritis will be the fourth leading cause of disability worldwide 1 and is estimated to affect over 40 million people in Europe 2 and 4 million people in Italy 3 Obesity and a sedentary lifestyle are important risk factors for this debilitating condition 4. Disease progression is associated with cartilage degeneration, joint inflammation, stiffness and pain, and impaired joint function. Fat mass contributes to the cartilage degradation seen in knee osteoarthritis and for every 1 kg increase in total body fat there is an increased risk of cartilage defects, thus increasing the vulnerability of knee cartilage degeneration for individuals who are overweight and obese 5. In addition to body weight, adipocytes (fat cells) and proinflammatory cytokines also play a role in joint damage by contributing to synovial inflammation and bone matrix remodeling. 6
In previous studies chondroitin sulfate (CS) has shown anti-inflammatory potential by improving inflammatory indicators such as cytokine levels, C-reactive protein (CRP), and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR); however, the poor quality of many CS preparations (due to contaminants such as immunogenic keratin sulfate, hyaluronic acid, unknown proteins, and nucleic acids) has sparked a strong interest in a non-animal chondroitin product with better bioavailability and a safer manufacturing profile. 7
In a monocentric, prospective, randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled pilot study, 8 sixty overweight subjects with known osteoarthritis were given either 600 mg of a non-animal chondroitin sulfate (Mythocondro manufactured by Gnosis by Lesaffre: Milan, Italy) (n=30) or a placebo (n=30) for twelve consecutive weeks. Knee pain, quality of life, and related inflammation markers and body composition were assessed at 0, 4 and 12 weeks.
Researchers found that compared to the control group, those who supplemented with non-animal CS had a significant increases in the Tegner Lysholm Knee Scores (TLKS), representing improved articular functions (p<0.01) and significant decreases in WOMAC scores after 12 weeks, representing decreases in pain levels (p<0.01). Also evident was a decrease in C-reactive protein (CPR) level and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) level (P<0.01) for both, as well as a decrease in the visual analogue scale (VAS) score in both knees. Lastly, a significant improvement was seen in body composition [free fat mass, (FFM)] and quality of life (P<0.05 for both). No significant side effects were observed.
This is the first study to demonstrate the effectiveness of a non-animal CS supplementation in overweight people with osteoarthritis of the knee. Many of the beneficial effects of 600 mg per day were evident as early as four weeks. Further studies evaluating this product’s short- and long-term use are needed to validate these findings.
Source: Rondanelli, Mariangela, Valentina Braschi, Clara Gasparri, Mara Nichetti, Milena Anna Faliva, Gabriella Peroni, Maurizio Naso et al. “Effectiveness of Non-Animal Chondroitin Sulfate Supplementation in the Treatment of Moderate Knee Osteoarthritis in a Group of Overweight Subjects: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Pilot Study.” Nutrients 11, no. 9 (2019): 2027.
© 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
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Posted September 23, 2019.
Joyce Smith, BS, is a degreed laboratory technologist. She received her bachelor of arts with a major in Chemistry and a minor in Biology from the University of Saskatchewan and her internship through the University of Saskatchewan College of Medicine and the Royal University Hospital in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. She currently resides in Bloomingdale, IL.
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- Miraglia N, Bianchi D, Trentin A, Volpi N, Soni MG. Safety assessment of non-animal chondroitin sulfate sodium: Subchronic study in rats, genotoxicity tests and human bioavailability. Food and Chemical Toxicology. 2016;93:89-101.
- Rondanelli M, Braschi V, Gasparri C, et al. Effectiveness of Non-Animal Chondroitin Sulfate Supplementation in the Treatment of Moderate Knee Osteoarthritis in a Group of Overweight Subjects: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Pilot Study. Nutrients. 2019;11(9):2027.
