Glucosamine
(Glucosamine Sulfate)
Evidence: Very High
Possible Benefits: Reasonable
Safety: High
TABLE OF CONTENTS
What is glucosamine?
Glucosamine is a supplement derived from shellfish or synthesized in the lab commonly used for its pain-reducing effects and for improving knee joint health. This article is about the main benefits of glucosamine, its potential side effects, the best time to take it, and more.
Possible benefits
All of the potential benefits mentioned below are dose-dependent. As with most other supplements, there is a sweet-spot dose that allows you to get most of the benefits without causing meaningful side effects or tolerance buildup in the body. We will discuss the best dosing protocol later in this article.
Major benefits
Minor benefits
Possible side effects
The side effects below are dose-dependent. The risk for them increases (often linearly but sometimes exponentially) as you increase the dose. Some of the side effects only apply to very high doses.
Who should not take glucosamine?
You should probably avoid taking glucosamine if you:
Who will benefit the most?
You should consider taking the supplement if you:
How much glucosamine should you take?
The sweet spot dose typically ranges between 900-1500 mg daily for most people. This amount should provide most of the benefits without meaningful side effects.
The higher end of this range usually provides slightly more benefits in the short term. If you plan to take this supplement for a longer time (multiple months or years), the lower end is probably a better way to go since it is safer, and you would develop tolerance faster if you were to take higher doses.
If you are a serious athlete or do lots of high-impact exercise, doses as high as 3 grams daily may be useful for keeping your knee joints and possibly other joints healthy.
The upper safety limit for this supplement is not well-established. To stay on the safe side, don’t take more than the recommended dose unless you have a great reason to do so. Higher amounts may cause problems if you take the supplement for a prolonged period.
Like most other supplements, it is best to cycle glucosamine and take about two days off weekly to reset your tolerance. That will allow you to keep getting the benefits in the long term.
Best time to take glucosamine
Glucosamine is water-soluble, so you don’t have to take it with food to absorb it well.
Whether you take the supplement in the morning or the evening does not make much difference. Both options are fine so feel free to experiment.
Interactions
Where to buy glucosamine?
In most countries, Amazon is the best option for ordering glucosamine supplements. They offer some very affordable products backed by many positive reviews. Also, you can choose from a wide range of brands without having to search through other markets on the Internet.
Some brands display the dosage per serving instead of per pill or capsule. Therefore, you may accidentally buy something less potent than you intended. Do not fall for this marketing trick.
FAQ
References
Most of the information in this guide is based on scientific research that can be found and verified in the PubMed medical library. We highly encourage you to use the library to verify anything you read in this article. We excluded from consideration studies that are either confounded or have a high conflict of interest.
We hope this guide has helped you determine if you should add glucosamine to your supplement stack and how to do it right.
If you have any further questions or want to share your feedback, feel free to send us an email!
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