A widely used supplement marketed for joint pain relief may be linked to faster progression of Alzheimer's disease, according to new research from the University of Florida.
The study found that people with mild cognitive impairment who reported taking glucosamine were more likely to progress to dementia than those who did not use the supplement. Researchers also uncovered evidence suggesting that glucosamine may interact with biological processes in the brain that are already disrupted in Alzheimer's disease.
The findings, published June 9 in Nature Metabolism, are based on a large analysis of patient health records combined with advanced imaging studies of human brain tissue and mouse models of Alzheimer's disease.
Although the results do not prove that glucosamine causes dementia and will need to be confirmed in clinical trials, researchers say the work adds to growing evidence that metabolic dysfunction plays an important role in neurodegenerative diseases.
"In the United States, there are about 7 million people living with Alzheimer's and millions more with related dementias such as Lewy body or frontotemporal dementia," said senior author Ramon Sun, Ph.D., director of the Center for Advanced Spatial Biomolecule Research and associate director for innovation of UF's McKnight Brain Institute. "A lot of these people actively take an over-the-counter supplement that could be making their disease progression worse."
