These Joint Supplements Might Be Better for Skin Anti-Aging

Glucosamine is often thought to be like a gimmick supplement. It's what all people take for their joints and bone health. But after digging into the research, I noticed something unexpected. Glucosamine and related compounds like MSM and chondroitin may actually be better for skin anti-aging than for joints. Once you understand some of the biology, it makes perfect sense. So, in this video, I'm going to share with you why these joint supplements might also belong in the skin anti-aging category. So, glucosamine is one of those supplements everyone's grandma is taking similar to omega-3s. It's a bit controversial, but there are clinical trials showing that glucosamine supplementation improves pain and joint function to a moderate to large degree in osteoarthritis patients. Glucosamine is needed for the synthesis of cartilage glycosaminoglycans gags which function as lubricants or shock absorbers for the joints. In arthritis, cartilage gags have decreased sulfate content. That's why glucosamine sulfate is the best form of glucosamine to take for joint health. It's the sulfur element. But the sulfur is also the reason why glucosamine has also been seen to have skin benefits. Sulfur supports the production of glutathione, which is a powerful antioxidant in the body. Glutathione is what's often used in skin care for whitening the skin and reducing hyperpigmentation. But the antioxidant effects of glutathione would also counteract skin wrinkles by lowering oxidative stress. In a 2017 clinical trial, women taking 250 milligs of glucosamine sulfate a day for 8 weeks saw improved wrinkles and higher collagen synthesis. In the cell culture part of the study, glucosamine sulfate was seen to increase GA levels in the epidermis and collagen synthesis which provides a mechanistic explanation for the results. Glucosamine specifically inhibits matrix metalloproinases MMPs which are one of the primary things that degrade skin collagen. To be honest, there's not that many randomized control trials on glucosamine supplementation and skin and aging, but there are a lot more studies on the other sulfur compounds that I'm going to talk about. Methyl sulfenylmethane MSM is a sulfur molecule with anti-inflammatory properties, which is why it's been shown to improve osteoarthritis pain and joint health. There are several randomized control trials showing that MSM improves joint function, pain, and stiffness. The typical dose is 1.5 to six grams per day divided into two to three doses. Combining MSM with glucosamine appears to be superior to either alone. So does MSM also have skin benefits? Then in a 2022 pilot study, MSM supplementation at a dose of 1 to 3 g per day for 16 weeks reduced wrinkles, decreased skin roughness, improved elasticity, firmness, and hydration. A 2015 randomized control trial of three grams of MSM also shows similar benefits. We have talked about the benefits of collagen on skin anti-aging on this channel. But adding 1.5 g of MSM to 5 or 10 g of collagen peptides has been shown to improve the skin dermis density, skin texture, and reduce wrinkles in a 2023 clinical trial. MSM alone was more effective in increasing skin thickness and roughness than 10 g of hydrayed fish collagen. The best results across all parameters were seen with 10 grams of hydrayzeed collagen peptides with 1.5 grams of MSM. Thanks to its antioxidant and glutathione boosting benefits, MSM might also protect the skin against sun damage. In a 2022 study, mice were exposed to UVB radiation for 6 weeks, and the ones getting MSM showed fewer wrinkles and photoagging compared to nothing. MSM mice also showed less collagen confirmation loss and more androgenesis and elastin precursors than saline or retinoic acid. So MSM has a lot more evidence for skin benefits compared to glucosamine. But the actions are very similar. These sulfur compounds protect the skin against damage whether that damage come from the sun or other sources like aging. And these sulfur compounds also stimulate the production of collagen and elastin. Let's talk about the third sulfur compound chondroitin. Chondroitin sulfate is a structural component of cartilage and it's a sulfated glycosaminoglycin. Chondroitin sulfate improves the ability of the joints to resist compression. A 2015 cockrine review of 43 randomized control trials saw that chondroitin provides small to moderate effects in improving pain and function in osteoarthritis as well as reduce joint space width. When it comes to skin anti-aging, there are no human studies on chondroitin yet. However, in cell studies, chondroitin sulfate stimulates the expression of type 1 procolagen and the proliferation of keratinosytes and fiberlasts which promote wound healing and skin regeneration. As you can see, there's quite compelling evidence from mechanistic studies as well as some human clinical trials that these sulfur compounds glucosamine, MSM, and chondroitin have some benefits on skin anti-aging. We definitely would need more random control trials on this topic. And I'm not saying that everyone should go out there and start taking glucosamine for skin health. It's not very likely that glucosamine or MSM is more effective for skin health compared to something like collagen peptides or asexandin. They might improve or enhance the results that you're getting, but they're not going to be better than retinol or sunscreen or something else like that. However, these skin effects are more like bonus benefits. The way I think about it, these sulfur compounds are generally anti-inflammatory, which is one of the main reasons you would want to take them. They improved skin health. They reduce wrinkles are just a bonus. Supplementing glucosamine is associated with a 39% lower risk of all cause mortality and lower heart disease events and cancer. Obviously, these are observational studies, but usually if people take glucosamine, they do it because they have some joint pain or some joint issues. So, elderly people with joint pain. So, this isn't your classical healthy user bias because most people who take glucosamine have joint pain. No one really takes glucosamine for preventive health or health optimization. The mechanistic effects of glucosamine also suggest it has direct anti-inflammatory effects. Supplementing with glucosamine hydrochloride and chondroitin sulfate can lower inflammation as measured by CRP by 23% as seen in a 2015 clinical trial. All of this together suggests that glucosamine and the sulfur compounds have legitimate anti-inflammatory effects. These anti-inflammatory effects manifest in reduced joint pain as shown by dozens of clinical trials, at least in more severe cases of arthritis or osteoporosis. And these anti-inflammatory effects also translate over to better skin health and reduce wrinkles as shown by these clinical trials that I've shown in this video. Again, I'm not saying that everyone should just go out there and get glucosamine for skin health. We definitely would want more studies on this, but I just wanted to share with you these ideas because no one else has really talked about them before. If you want to know how I rank 100 other supplements from worst to best, then check out this video