John Arts Abundant Living www.johnarts.co.nz

Osteoarthritis – known as OA – is the most common joint disease, with more than 70 per cent of people affected at some time, often from middle age. For me it struck much earlier. My hyper-flexible thumb joints meant the joint cartilage was severely worn in my thirties. From my forties this caused significant problems limiting the use of my hands.

Now, at age 61, I still have worn joints but have almost no symptoms. This is testimony to the combination of an anti-inflammatory diet and a supplement programme high in Omega 3, antioxidants and joint support compounds especially high doses of chondroitin and curcumin, or turmeric.

Joint products with glucosamine and chondroitin have been available for 20 years. During the last few years we have seen more intensive research to assess the effectiveness of these compounds. Older-style formulations were heavily weighted towards glucosamine sulphate. This was probably because of research published in Lancet in 2001, showing benefits from using glucosamine for knee osteoarthritis.

More recent research has focused on the reasons why these compounds seem to work. An excellent French study published in 2011 looked specifically at chondroitin sulphate – known as CS – and concluded: 'CS treatment significantly reduced the cartilage volume loss in knee OA starting at six months of treatment… These findings suggest a joint structure protective effect of CS and provide new in vivo information on its mode of action in knee OA (Wldi et al, 2011, ‘Annals of Rheumatic Diseases')”.

As a result of this research I reformulated my joint product to boost chondroitin to the levels used in this research. In experience, I've found combining these ingredients with Omega 3 and potent antioxidants can really make a difference. Give me a call or email john@abundant.co.nz if you need more information. Join my full weekly newsletter at www.abundant.co.nz

John Arts is a qualified nutritional medicine practitioner and founder of Abundant Health. Contact John on 0800 423 559. To read more go to www.sunlive.co.nz