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04.07.2023

Chondroitin supplementation reduces the risk of myocardial infarction by about forty percent

Supplementation with chondroitin reduces the risk of a heart attack in people with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Relatively low doses protect as well as high ones.

Study
In 2021, Ramon Mazzucchelli, a rheumatologist from Hospital Universitario Fundacion Alcorcon in Spain, published an epidemiological study in PLoS One that was based on a Spanish medical database containing the data of 8 million Spaniards.

Mazzuchelli extracted the files of 23,585 Spaniards who had suffered a heart attack. He compared these with the files of 117,405 Spaniards who resembled the first group in as many respects as possible, but had not had a heart attack.

Results
Mazuchelli looked at the use of chondroitin supplements. Among the myocardial infarction group, 0.38 percent of the Spaniards used chondroitin, compared to 0.64 percent in the control group.

Mazuchelli calculated that the use of chondroitin reduced the risk of a heart attack by 43 percent.

Glucosamine supplementation had no effect on myocardial infarction.

Click on the tables below for a larger version.

Results
In the table above you can see that the duration of chondroitin use was not a factor. The protective effect of chondroitin is apparently acute. This may also explain why the Spaniards who said they had used chondroitin in the past were hardly less likely to have a heart attack than non-users.

The researchers also found that the dosage used seemed to have no influence. A daily dose of more than 800 milligrams protected about as well as a dose of less than 800 milligrams.

When the researchers broke down their data, they saw that chondroitin supplementation protected both men and women, in both over-70s and under-70s, and in both NSAID users and non-users.

Remarkably, the protective effect of chondroitin only came to light in study participants with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.

Mechanism
In animal studies, chondroitin repairs damaged vessel walls. That effect is so strong that administration of chondroitin can even reduce the size of plaques in blood vessels. [Thromb Haemost. 2018 Jul;118(7):1329-39.]

Conclusion
Yes we know. Epidemiology is suitable for demonstrating associations, but not every association points to a causal relationship. This certainly applies to this type of epidemiological research that this post is about. Too bad there isn't...

More coming soon.

Source:
PLoS One. 2021 Jul 12;16(7):e0253932.

More:
Chondroitin sulphate protects knee joints 15.06.2012
Glucosamine and chondroitin protect against lung and bowel cancer 06.07.2010
Glucosamine and chondroitin users live longer 24.06.2010

Archives:
Cardiovascular Health
Chondroitin

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