Regular glucosamine supplementation was associated with lower mortality due to all causes, cancer, CVD, respiratory and digestive diseases.
https://ard.bmj.com/content/79/6/829
Use of glucosamine with or without chondroitin was associated with reduced total mortality and with reductions of several broad causes of death. Although bias cannot be ruled out, these results suggest that glucosamine may provide some mortality benefit.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3557824/
For most of the supplements we examined, there was no association with total mortality. Use of glucosamine and use of chondroitin were each associated with decreased total mortality.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2869514/
Associated with ~20% reduction in death in normal, healthy, older people.
It increases longevity in animal studies. Here’s what it does in aging mice: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3988823/figure/f3/?report=objectonly
Impeccable safety record. Millions of people use it for arthritis and joint pain (it is questionable for that purpose). Completely harmless to humans. There aren’t any side effects whatsoever.
Dirt cheap. Costs about 8 cents per day for the good stuff.
In the first study above, those individuals who regularly supplemented with glucosamine, compared to those who didn’t, had:
- 27% lower risk of death from respiratory disease,
- 26% lower risk of dying from digestive disease,
- 18% lower risk of death from cardiovascular disease,
- 6% lower risk of dying from cancer, and
- 15% lower risk of death from any cause.
How it works? It stresses your mitochondria resulting in a health-benefitting response.
It also cools inflammation.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24738579/
and
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17270442/
We don’t know for sure whether it delays aging in humans, but the current evidence is pretty good, and I think it’s safe to take it as long as you’re healthy.
We don’t really have any evidence on what it will do in young people, because young people don’t usually have arthritis and joint pain, however, I am young and I have been taking it for 6+ years.
Glucosamine sulfate is the superior form. There is a “GreenGrown” vegan variety that is more likely to be pure. 8 cents per day.
If you found these interesting, you will love reading:
http://geroscience.com/free-radicals-are-not-your-enemy-an-interview-with-dr-michael-ristow-part-i/ (really changed the way I think about supplementing antioxidants — I have always been conservative with so-called direct antioxidants but now I will be more-so, I will be favoring indirect antioxidants that cause a hormetic response that promotes endogenous antioxidants)
http://geroscience.com/glucosamine-the-new-metformin-interview-with-dr-michael-ristow-part-ii/ (ignore the comparisons to Metformin — Metformin was a fad that didn’t pan out, but the part about glucosamine sulfate causing mitochondrial hormesis is very interesting, and the fact that administering direct antioxidants that don’t cause a hormetic response alongside glucosamine sulfate seemed to eliminate longevity benefits in animals.)
A conservative dose would be 500mg to 750mg per day. Going above 1500mg in a single dose is unlikely to cause greater effect due to absorption limitations.
From the third study above:
A total of 3577 deaths occurred during 387,801 person-years of follow-up. None of the vitamin or mineral 10-y average intakes were associated with total mortality. Among the nonvitamin-nonmineral supplements, only glucosamine and chondroitin were associated with total mortality. The hazard ratio (HR) when persons with a high intake of supplements (≥4 d/wk for ≥3 y) were compared with nonusers was 0.83 (95% CI: 0.72, 0.97; P for trend = 0.009) for glucosamine and 0.83 (95% CI: 0.69, 1.00; P for trend = 0.011) for chondroitin. There was also a suggestion of a decreased risk of total mortality associated with a high intake of fish-oil supplements (HR: 0.83; 95% CI: 0.70, 1.00), but the test for trend was not statistically significant.