Did you see the Joint Juice TV commercial with Joe Montana? I did, and that's what got me to thinking about Joint Juice. I've seen this product in my local supermarket before and while I have reviewed most of its ingredients previously, I have not specifically reviewed Joint Juice itself. That's what I want to do now, because I'm sure a lot of people will be wondering if Joint Juice is right for them because of the Joe Montana TV commercial.
What is Joint Juice?
The name Joint Juice is catchy because it immediately makes you think it's a supplement for the joints. Specifically, Joint Juice is a supplement that is supposed to reduce the pain of osteoarthritis. This is the most common type of arthritis, so odds are, most people have this form.
Unlike many other arthritis supplements which are pills, Joint Juice is a drinkable supplement. The flagship product is just called Joint Juice but there is another type – called Joint Juice Hyal-Joint – that I'll touch on below. Right now Let's just look at the main type of Joint Juice.
Joint Juice Ingredients
The main active ingredients in Joint Juice said to be:
- Glucosamine HCI 1500mg
- Chondroitin Sulfate 200mg
- Green Tea Extract 120mg
Joint Juice also has 100% of the daily value for vitamin C and 25% of the DV for vitamin D as well as 10% of the daily value for calcium. For most people, the levels of these nutrients should have no therapeutic effect on arthritis, so let's focus on the 3 main ingredients.
Glucosamine HCL
If you currently take a glucosamine supplement, go get it and look at the ingredients. I will bet that you see glucosamine HCL listed. I'm saying this because when I survey glucosamine supplements, the majority of these products contain glucosamine HCL – but why?
The vast majority of glucosamine research -and proof – is not on glucosamine HCL, but rather glucosamine sulfate.
You may remember that glucosamine HCL is one of the main ingredients in the arthritis product called Supple, which is often advertised via its 30 minute TV infomercial.
I have already reviewed why I believe glucosamine sulfate is better than glucosamine HCL when I wrote 4 facts about glucosamine you don't know.
Why do supplement companies continue to put what I feel is an inferior product in their glucosamine supplements? I make this bold statement because of the research that has been done on glucosamine HCL.
For example, here is a study from 2006 published in the New England Journal of Medicine called the GAIT Study.
GAIT stands for the Glucosamine Administration Intervention Trial and it was one of the largest glucosamine studies done and involved 1583 people and used exactly the same concentration of glucosamine HCL and chondroitin sulfate as Joint Juice.
Basically, the GAIT Study noted that glucosamine HCL – either alone or in combination with chondroitin sulfate – had no significant effect on reducing arthritis pain. They were no better than those using a placebo.
Here is some specifics on the GAIT study if you want more information.
In 2010 a 24 month follow up to the GAIT trail was published. This study had 662 people. Unfortunately, this study also noted the lackluster effect of glucosamine HCL and chondroitin sulfate compared to placebo.
If glucsamine HCL is going to work, research suggests that it might be most effective for only mild forms of arthritis.
It's because of stuff like this that I call glucosamine HCL a “watered down version” of glucosamine sulfate.
Let me be clear, I am not totally endorsing glucosamine sulfate, because not all studies say it works either. But there is more proof overall for glucosamine sulfate than glucosamine HCL.
If these reports are to be believed, then it also means that the combination of glucosamine and chonddroitin are not better together.
Chrondroitin Sulfate
I'm guessing that most arthritis supplements contain chondroitin sulfate because of research noting that it might slow the reduction in joint space that accompanies osteoarthritis. In other words, chondroitin might slow the progression of osteoarthritis. That's good.
But, glucosamine sulfate still has far more proof that it might help osteoarthritis than chondroitin sulfate.
Until more is known, men should speak to their doctors before using chondroitin sulfate. The is some evidence that chondroitin sulfate may increase the risk of prostate cancer. The connection is based on a correlation; in other words, as chondroitin levels go up so too does prostate cancer risk. This doesnt mean chondroitin supplements cause cancer. But, its worth a discussion with a pharmacist or doctor to learn more.
Green Tea Extract
The makers of Joint Juice doesn't specifically say what “extract‘ they use, but I believe it may be EGCG. There is some evidence that EGCG may help reduce arthritis development. Most of the proof so far has stemmed from lab animals and test tube studies. Still, it's intriguing research.
But, how much EGCG might help arthritis and would EGCG help people who already have arthritis? These questions are not well known, which means adding green tea extract to Joint Juice might be jumping the gun a bit.
Since they dont tell us what extract they use, Its possible that the green tea extract might be caffeine. While the Joint Juice list of ingredients does not mention caffeine, I can somewhat understand why caffeine might be in an arthritis supplement. Research exists that caffeine can help reduce feelings of pain.
Caffeine has also been shown to reduce feelings of pain during exercise too.
That said, I am not aware of any study that specifically looked at caffeine helping arthritis pain.
If you try Joint Juice, it may take 8 weeks before you notice any significant effect.
Joint Juice Hyal-Joint
Joint Juice Hyal-Joint contains Hyaluronic Acid in place of chondroitin sulfate. As I first reported in my book about supplements, the evidence is that hyaluronic acid injections might help arthritis – not hyaluronic acid supplements. As such I don't think hyaluronic acid supplements help osteoarthritis at all.
Because we are all different, I ultimately I don't know if Joint Juice will help everyone or not. I'm sure for some people it will help them and I know Joe Montana means well when he talks about Joint Juice on TV. But when I look at the evidence for the ingredients in Joint Juice, I believe that its effects would be best felt in people with mild forms of osteoarthritis.
Here is Joint Juice on Amazon for those who are interested.
What do you think?