NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A natural dietary supplement derived from seaweed could help improve pain and stiffness in people who suffer from osteoarthritis of the knee, according to a preliminary study.
The supplement, Aquamin, is made from red algae and contains calcium, magnesium and other minerals that some research suggests could help ease inflammation and slow deterioration due to arthritis, Dr. Joy L. Frestedt of the Minnesota Applied Research Center in Edina and colleagues note.
Frestedt and her team randomized 70 people with moderate to severe osteoarthritis of the knee to glucosamine, Aquamin, both supplements, or placebo. Fifty people completed the study, which was funded by Cork, Ireland-based Marigot Ltd., the company that makes Aquamin.
Only study subjects who took a single supplement - glucosamine or Aquamin -- showed improvements in their symptoms after 12 weeks, the researchers found, while the combination and placebo groups had no improvement.
People taking Aquamin were able to walk 101 feet more in 6 minutes than they could before the study (an improvement of 7 percent), while the glucosamine group walked an average of 56 more feet, or a 3.5 percent greater distance.
"Although these distances appear to be small, our subjects with severe osteoarthritis indicated that the ability to walk even a little bit further was important to them," Frestedt and colleagues write in the Nutrition Journal.
Individuals taking Aquamin also showed improvements in pain, stiffness and activity levels, while those on glucosamine had less pain and were more active but no improvement in stiffness.
"These pilot trial results suggest a potential treatment effect for Aquamin among subjects with moderate to severe osteoarthritis and this preliminary finding warrants further study," the researchers conclude.
SOURCE: Nutrition Journal, published online February 19, 2008.
