Health and Nutrition

From the Johns Hopkins Health Alert The most recent study on glucosamine chondroitin supplements seriously challenges their effectiveness at providing relief from osteoarthritis pain. In 2006, the National Institutes of Health’s Glucosamine/Chondroitin Arthritis Intervention Trial (GAIT) showed that these popular arthritis supplements don’t help. But many patients held out hope that an ongoing second GAIT [...]

Chronic Pain Linked to Low Vitamin D Allison Gandey Medscape Medical News 2009. © 2009 Medscape March 25, 2009 — Inadequate vitamin D may represent an underrecognized source of nociperception and impaired neuromuscular functioning, say researchers. “Physicians who care for patients with chronic, diffuse pain that seems musculoskeletal — and involves many areas of tenderness [...]

Study finds risk is greatest for those overweight or obese at age 45 (HealthDay News) — Almost half of all American adults will develop osteoarthritis of the knee by age 85, and their odds increase if they are obese in middle age, a new study says. A person’s risk of having the painful condition increased [...]

Jane Salodof MacNeil Medscape Medical News 2004. © 2004 Medscape Oct. 19, 2004 (San Antonio) — Results from a 30-month study of 221 elderly patients with osteoarthritis of the knee suggest that remedying a vitamin D deficiency can reduce disability and possibly pain as well.

highlight: Nutritional supplements can help ease arthritis pain, according to The Lancet medical journal, and patients with rheumatoid arthritis can especially benefit from adding fish oil supplements to their diets.

DECEMBER 22, 2004 — A clinical trial of “sufficient size and duration” shows that acupuncture reduces the pain and functional impairment of osteoarthritis of the knee and serves as an effective complement to standard care. The landmark study, undertaken by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), was published in the Dec. 21, [...]

ANAHEIM, Calif. (April 18) – With prescription drugs Vioxx and Bextra already pulled from the market, a study has raised disturbing questions about the heart safety of long-term use of over-the-counter pain relievers such as Advil, Motrin and Aleve. Smokers in Norway who took such drugs for at least six months had twice the risk [...]

Jan 15, 2005 11:01 am US/Central Arthritis Patients Can Seek Natural Pain Relief Mary Ann Childers reports. (CBS 2) With the FDA’s recent decision to pull the pain reliever Vioxx from the shelves and put Celebrex and Bextra under close watch, arthritis patients are left wondering how they can control their pain. Now, a new [...]