Cartilage and ligaments often weaken with age.
When they become weak, they are prone to breakage and can also lead to certain conditions such as arthritis.
Aging is not preventable as well as the degenerative process in our body, however, we can slow down the process of aging and degeneration of our body by means of eating nutritious foods.
If experiencing joint pains or even if not, one should be aware in taking care of the joints.
Joint pain can happen when there is trauma, infection, osteoarthritis, due to weight training, exercise and old age.
Osteoarthritis is a condition that affects about 20 million people in America.
The primary treatment goal of arthritis is to alleviate the pain and to correct some of the underlying condition.
Treatment includes anti inflammatory medications, pain relievers and non-steroidal medications.
However, these medications have several side effects when used in long term.
The use of supplements is becoming popular today.
There are also studies which have proven its effectiveness in reducing the pain and improving the structures of the joints which will slow down or prevent the progression of the disease.
The most popular supplements for arthritis are glucosamine and chondroitin.
These two are important components of the cartilage.
Glucosamine produces glycosaminoglycan or GAG which is paired with proteoglycans in acting as a building block of cartilage.
Chondroitin is an example of proteoglycan.
These two components are manufactured by the body and the production slows down with age.
When we get older we become prone to cartilage breakage because our body cannot sufficiently supply the needed glucosamine and chondroitin for cartilage repair.
Taking additional glucosamine and chondroitin supplements will help in maintaining the cartilage and will aid in the repair of damaged cartilage.
In addition, it also helps in producing new cartilage and it also affects the hyaluronic acid, which is secreted when having a tissue repair.
A study was conducted wherein a GAG is injected on an animal with joint problems.
The result of the study shows that there is an improvement of the joints six weeks after the injection of GAG.
The study conducted has shown the effectiveness of glucosamine in treating joint problems.
The use of glucosamine in humans has been proven effective in the studies.
About 2 decades of studies have proved the effectiveness of glucosamine and chondroitin.
MSM or methylsulfonylmehane is another component in combination with glucosamine and chondroitin supplements in treating arthritis.
It also helps alleviate the pain and reduce inflammation.
MSM is rich in sulfur, which is necessary in maintaining proper functions of the body parts.
There are also studies that have proven that taking an MSM supplement works as well as aspirin.
Taking glucosamine and chondroitin supplements are already beneficial for individuals experiencing arthritis.
However, there are also studies that have proven that taking glucosamine and chondroitin supplements with MSM are much better.
For these reason most of the supplement for arthritis include any combination of glucosamine, chondroitin and MSM.