Glucosamine: does this common nutrient, found in cartilage and shells, really help relieve joint pain for people with osteoarthitis?
Key Take Aways
- Glucosamine derivatives are used by our bodies to make nitrogen-containing sugars vital to keeping our immune cells healthy and our cartilage cushiony.
- We can get equivalent nutrients from cartilage, bones, bone marrow and mushrooms.
- Glucosamine is effective for reducing the joint pain associated with osteoarthritis.
- Studies show a benefit at 1500 mg glucosamine and 1200 mg chondroitin as standard doses.
- The combination of glucosamine and chondroitin helps to preserve cartilage.
- Glucosamine has not yet shown a replicable benefit to rheumatoid arthritis patients despite being tested.
- Combining Type II collagen peptides with glucosamine and chondroitin can improve their efficacy.
What is Glucosamine?
Glucosamine is a chemical compound that is naturally found in the body. Glucosamine supports the health of cartilage, which is connective tissue required to protect our nerves, and bones at the joints. Without cartilage, when our joints work, our bare bones would rub over each other. Over time the bone would wear away and the joints stop working. Pain is our body’s way of letting us know we are injuring ourselves. As the damage to our joints gets worse, so will our pain. This is what we call osteoarthritis.
As we age, our ability to store glucosamine in our bones drops. This loss of glucosamine leads to a gradual breakdown of our cartilage and then our joints. Doctors have speculated for many years that if we eat more glucosamine, it might slow down the deterioration of our joints, their thinking being: healthy joints won’t hurt.
Anecdotally, nutritional supplements of glucosamine have been associated with relieving joint pain. Glucosamine is thought to work by delaying the breakdown of, repairing, and rebuilding damaged cartilage. There are two main types of glucosamine supplements: hydrochloride and sulfate.
How Do We Use Glucosamine?
For many years people have have used glucosamine as a nutritional supplement hoping to prevent osteoarthritis and the pain that comes with it. Since it also helps immune cells to distinguish normal cells in the body from disease-causing ones, people use it to give their immune system a boost. For instance, some patients with autoimmune disorders such as inflammatory bowel disease, rheumatoid arthritis and asthma say that they have found it helps.
In the case of osteoarthritis, the most common form of arthritis, people often pair glucosamine with chondroitin. Chondroitin is a modified form of glucosamine, and is a major component of our cartilage. The idea is that people combine these two ingredients to encourage our bodies to make the cushiony tissue that protects our joints from mechanical damage when our bones rub against each other. Chondroitin, some people say, encourages our cartilage to suck up more water, making it thicker and bouncier.
But does it really work? Are we wasting our time and money on expensive glucosamine supplements derived from shell fish? Let’s find out.
Is There Evidence that Glucosamine Helps Joint Pain?
In 2025, a team of researchers from Cedarville University’s school of Pharmacy in Ohio, USA, set themselves the goal of finding out: does glucosamine for arthritis pain actually work?
The team decided that the way to go was to analyse all the clinical trials that have been done on glucosamine in the past, to see whether there was any existing evidence that could give a conclusive answer. If there were no good studies, it would help them to design a future clinical trial that might give a better answer.
After reviewing over 2000 published research studies, the team concluded that there was sufficient evidence to say that glucosamine paired with chondroitin is effective at reducing joint and osteoarthritis pain. The duo did not appear to produce any benefit for rheumatoid arthritis. In short, glucosamine does work for osteoarthritis and joint pain, but it works better when paired with chondroitin, and is at its best when combined with type II collagen peptides.
How did they draw their conclusions?
The researchers did a through literature search, that found 2013 unique research studies published in peer review journals. Of those 2013, they excluded studies that were not available in English, were not the full text, low quaility as judged by the Mixed Methods Assessment Tool, were unrelated to efficacy in joint pain, were poorly designed or not comparable to other papers.
They ended up with 155 clinical trials where the participants, interventions and outcome measures allowed for data extraction.
Around 60% were randomised controlled trials- “the gold standard of clinical trial design” and came from Europe, Asia and the USA. The other studies were cohort studies, experimental studies and cross sectional analysis with some case reports thrown in. Randomized controlled trials contributed data covering 15000 participants.
Most of the studies focused on osteoarthritis and joint pain treated with both glucosamine and chondroitin. The team found that 102/113 of the studies that tested efficacy found improvements for patients who took glucosamine and chondroitin together. In terms of side effects, 80/107 studies that checked, found no adverse events/mild side effects that were no worse than a comparator.
Tools used by these studies to determine whether or not the glucosamine supplements helped with osteoarthritis and joint pain included: the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Arthritis Index; the visual analog scale; Lequesne Index; Lequesne Functional Index and patient self assessments.
Most studies used a standard oral dosage of 1500 mg glucosamine and 1200 mg chondroitin split over a few doses per day.
One interesting observation the authors make is that there was also evidence that the combination of glucosamine and chondroitin had beneficial effects on cartilage preservation and inflammation – showing better efficacy than the NSAIDs celecoxib and diclofenac in some cases.
Evidence from Previous Studies
Studies of glucosamine for joint pain have had conflicting results. The Glucosamine/ Chondroitin Arthritis Intervention Trial (GAIT) is a long-term study published in The New England Journal of Medicine, which investigates the use of glucosamine to treat knee osteoarthritis. The study found that there was no significant improvement in knee pain, stiffness, and physical function in the participants apart from in patients who had moderate-to-severe pain. For this reason, the investigators concluded that pain relief from glucosamine is dependent on the severity of the arthritis pain.
Another study published in The New England Journal of Medicine found no clinically significant differences in knee osteoarthritis between glucosamine and chondroitin compared to the placebo.
A study published in Rheumatology International found that a dose of 1,500 mg of glucosamine improved symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis more than a placebo. This highlights the possible use of glucosamine in conditions other than osteoarthritis. However, more evidence is required to confirm these findings.
The National Centre for Complementary and Integrative Health states that it is unclear whether glucosamine helps with knee pain due to osteoarthritis. The most suitable solution may be to try glucosamine supplements if you have moderate or significant osteoarthritis pain for a period of time, such as two to three months. If you find that glucosamine is effectively reducing your joint pain, then you can continue to use them.
The side effects of supplements for osteoarthritis are generally mild and infrequent. They can include headaches, drowsiness, heartburn, skin reactions, constipation, and an upset stomach.
Since glucosamine is normally made of shellfish, it is essential that individuals with a shellfish allergy use a shellfish-free variety. Glucosamine may also increase blood sugar levels so is not recommended to those with diabetes.
Other ways to relieve joint pain
It is possible to reduce pain in the joints caused by osteoarthritis or other conditions in other ways:
- Exercise to strengthen the muscles around the joints
- Eat a healthy and well-balanced diet which is rich in vitamins and minerals
- Use anti-inflammatory creams or gels for pain relief and stiffness reduction
If you want to try glucosamine for joint pain, check with your doctor and pharmacist first to ensure that it is safe for you. It is also essential that you seek medical attention if you experience any side effects after taking glucosamine supplements.
Written by Albina Babu, MSc
First Published November 30, 2020.
2025 Update and additional reporting by JF Mulvaney PhD
References:
Baden KER, Hoeksema SL, Gibson N, et al. The Safety and Efficacy of Glucosamine and/or Chondroitin in Humans: A Systematic Review. Nutrients. 2025;17(13):2093. doi:10.3390/nu17132093
Ernst, E. (2006). Glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate for knee osteoarthritis. The New England Journal of Medicine, 354(20), pp.2184-5.
Clegg, D.O., et al. (2006). Glucosamine, chondroitin sulfate, and the two in combination for painful knee osteoarthritis. New England Journal of Medicine, 354(8), pp.795-808.
Nakamura, H., et al. (2007). Effects of glucosamine administration on patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Rheumatology International, 27(3), pp.213-218.
Glucosamine and chondroitin for osteoarthritis (2014). National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. Retrieved from: https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/glucosamine-and-chondroitin-for-osteoarthritis
Do glucosamine and chondroitin really help arthritis pain? (2020). Harvard Health Publishing. Retrieved from: https://www.health.harvard.edu/healthbeat/do-glucosamine-and-chondroitin-really-help-arthriti-pain
Glucosamine and chondroitin for osteoarthritis pain (2019). Arthritis Foundation. Retrieved from: https://www.arthritis.org/health-wellness/treatment/complementary-therapies/supplements-and-vitamins/glucosamine-chondroitin-osteoarthritis-pain
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