Glucosamine Sulphate and Chondroitin, ingested together, can help reduce moderate to severe pain caused by osteoarthritis, the main cause of impediments in the United States , according to the results of studies that recently appeared in the annual meeting of the American College of Rheumatology in San Diego .

This study was the first on a great scale rigorously planned with these two popular supplements; it was paid for by the federal government and not by the private sector.

Undertaken by the National Institute of Health (NIH) at the University of Utah , it recruited almost 1,600 people who suffer of osteoarthritis, between the ages of 40 and 80 years. During six months, Glucosamine or Chondroitin, a combination of both, 200 milligrams of Celecoxib (which requires medical prescription and is commercially known as Celebrex) or a placebo, were administered. Nobody knew who was taking one or the other, and no patient had serious indirect effect.

The best results were reported by patients with severe to moderate pain that they took the combination of Glucosamine and Chondroitin: almost 80 percents of them said to have 20 percents less pain.

"This study offers another alternative to us, and that's what it is: "alternatives treatments", said Crystal S. Wright, vice-president of Leiner Health Products of Carson, California, which furnishes 43 percent of all brands that sell Glucosamine with Chondroitin.