GLUCOSAMINE             

22.75

Glucosamine Sulfates are a major building block of the water-loving proteoglycans. Specifically, glucosamine is needed to make glycosaminoglycans (GAGs), proteins that bind with water in the cartilage matrix. For a person suffering with osteoarthritis, something apparently goes wrong with the body's natural cartilage matrix, whereby the body doesn't produce proteoglycans and collagen (the building blocks of cartilage) fast enough to keep the cartilage healthy. At the same time, naturally-occurring cartilage chewing enzymes are destroying the working cartilage that is present. This imbalance creates the deterioration in the joints, hence osteoarthritis. Besides providing raw material for the synthesis of proteoglycans and GAGs, glucosamine's mere presence acts as a stimulant to the cells that produce these products - the chondrocytes. In fact, glucosamine has been found to be the key factor in determining how many proteoglycans are produced by the chondrocytes.

Glucosamine also spurs the chondrocytes to produce more collagen and proteoglycans as it normalizes cartilage metabolism, which helps to keep the cartilage from breaking down. Because glucosamine "jump-starts" the production of these key elements of the cartilage matrix, and then protects them, it actually helps the body to repair damaged or eroded cartilage.