CHONDROITIN FOR OSTEOARTHRITIS TREATMENT: IS ORAL CHONDROITIN SULFATE ABSORBABLE?
May 1st, 2011 adminChondroitin is one of a family of natural substances known as glycosaminoglycans (GAGs). It is composed of long chains that alternate two molecules: gaiactosamine and glucuronic acid. Galactosamine has the same chemical structure as glucosamine, but it has a slightly different three-dimensional shape. Like glucosamine, chondroitin is a molecule that can’t exist alone. It must be paired with something – often sulfate.Chondroitin sulfate became popular in the United States after the publication of Jason Theodosakis’s The Arthritis Cure, which recommends combining it with glucosamine sulfate. Although there is considerable evidence supporting the use of injectable chondroitin sulfate, until recently there was little evidence that oral chondroitin sulfate worked. Indeed, many experts have gone on record stating that oral chondroitin sulfate cannot possibly work because it is too big a molecule to be absorbed. At best, they proposed, it is broken down into other substances (such as glucosamine) which then provide benefits.Indeed, chondroitin sulfate is such a large molecule that at first glance it seems unlikely that it could be absorbed through the gut wall. In general, the gut cannot be penetrated by such enormous chemical structures. For example, cellulose is similar to chondroitin in many ways, and it simply passes through the digestive tract as dietary fiber. This opinion was bolstered by a small 1992 study that found that oral use of chondroitin sulfate did not raise blood levels of the substance.However, more recent evidence suggests that chondroitin sulfate actually can be absorbed. How such a molecule makes its way into the body is unclear, but apparently, it does. More important, we do have good evidence that when you take chondroitin, your arthritis symptoms will decrease.*40/306/5*