Joe A Shaw PA-C - 1/22/2008

Question
Sir,
I am Shalini from India. Sir, one of the doctors advised my father to take "GLUCOSAMINE HCL WITH BOSWELLIA"-proprietary food- dietary supplement for cartilage purpose (An Amway product). Sir, will the intake of this tablet causes rise in sugar levels (short term or long term)?.

Answer
Hi Shalini,
I don't use it nor do I recommend my family to use it, but I know a lot of people try it and use it. If patients want to try it I don't have a big problem with it...the only problem is I still see them in my clinic for aches and pains!?..so it must not be working and it can be quite expensive if taken as directed. One patient told me it was about $30-50/month! and it didn't do him any better than $5 worth of advil.
I will attach an article I found on diabetes and this supplement and on the use of it for arthritis. If you do use it I would monitor his sugar closely for 3 mos to see how it is effecting him.
http://healthfullife.umdnj.edu/archives/glucosamine_archive.htm

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/natural/patient-glucosamine.html

Hope this helps
J.Shaw PA-C