Jan 22 2008

Oh great. Vegetarian glucosamine made in China

I guess the world needs this. I know that lots of people think glucosamine helps relieve their arthritis pains, especially in the knees, but the science on it is really iffy. Any number of reviews conclude that glucosamine is ineffective but safe as a placebo. Well, at least you can get it now from vegetarian sources, made in China. Reassured? The manufacturer says “Most of the world’s glucosamine is manufactured in China anyway. What we’re doing is supplying a safer and purer glucosamine coming from the same geographical location.”

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  • Sheila
  • January 22, 2008
  • 3:13 pm

So, is melamine a vegetarian product?

  • Marion
  • January 22, 2008
  • 3:47 pm

I love the question! Melamine, source of plastic dinnerware and nasty crystals that ruin the kidneys of cats and dogs, is synthesized from urea. The process is something like how fertilizers are make. So that makes it neither animal nor vegetable.

Well, OK, if you’re a vegetarian.

But if you’re not, why not make chicken broth instead? It’s cheap, easy, and tasty, and if you do it in a slow cooker it doesn’t need much tending. Plus it’s made from something that most people throw out.

Doesn’t the urea, which is an organic compound, come from an animal or a vegetable, though? Or is it a petroleum product? (In which case, of course, it ultimately comes from a plant, though a plant that lived a looooooong time ago.)

  • Stefania
  • March 14, 2008
  • 8:40 pm

Oh my, this sounds like glucosamine is ineffective for everything, when that is not the case.

  • Tara
  • May 26, 2008
  • 1:02 am

We have used Glucosamine on our horses for years for joint health, and it really does seem to make a difference in high level competition horses (they’re the ones who end up with joint issues.) There really isn’t a placebo affect in horses.

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