Word: chondroitin
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...intentional? To cut costs. Heparin suppliers substituted a chemical--oversulfated chondroitin sulfate, or OSCS--that is derived from animal cartilage and used only in dietary supplements, not in medicines. The compound's key advantages: it is, as a Baxter spokeswoman puts it, a "virtual mimic of heparin" in most tests and, according to a congressional investigator, costs only $20 per kg, vs. $2,000 for crude heparin. The suppliers, investigators believe, colluded to substitute OSCS in the crude heparin they passed along for the standard price and pocketed the $1,980 difference for each kilogram they sold...
...Shark Cartilage: The next topic is a very sensitive one: glucosamine-chondroitin pills for arthritis. Patients ask me about these literally everyday. They're not cheap but they are not dangerous and, according to a well-done, recent study with 18,000 people - (half gets the stuff, the other the placebo and neither knows what they got until they report how the pills worked) - they are not effective. They are "natural" though, and many patients love them. The say their pain is "relieved" and they are sure the stuff works because of something about never having seen a shark with...
Meanwhile, a lot of effort has gone into figuring out how to replace damaged cartilage. Many arthritis sufferers swear by the dietary supplements glucosamine and chondroitin. Preliminary studies suggest that they may relieve pain, but the jury's still out on whether they actually promote the growth of new cartilage. The first approved biotech cartilage implants have hit the inevitable stalemate: once the new cartilage is in place, it's subject to the same destructive forces that chewed up the original cartilage. In addition, transplanted cartilage does not seem to adhere very well to existing tissue, though researchers are trying...
...palmetto, gingko biloba and several arthritis formulas. Nearly a quarter of the gingko brands tested did not contain the advertised levels of the active ingredient GBE, which is believed by some to increase blood flow to the brain and improve cognitive functions. In the case of glucosamine-chondroitin, a combination supplement used increasingly to treat arthritis, nearly half the brands tested had lower than claimed chondroitin levels...
...JUST FOR DOGS Finally, a broad look at whether glucosamine and chondroitin--two wildly popular arthritis treatments first used for gimpy dogs and horses--really work on humans. Analysis of eight trials involving 1,500 people confirmed that a daily dose of 1,500 mg of glucosamine or 1,200 mg of chondroitin relieves arthritis pain more effectively than a placebo, with chondroitin edging glucosamine by a nose. Don't get too frisky, though; longer and larger studies are still needed...