A recent epidemiological study published from the University of West Virginia by Chairman of the Dept of Family Medicine, Dana King, suggests that Glucosamine may reduce the risk of death from cardiovascular disease by 65%. The study, published in the Journal of the Board of Family Medicine, is based on an evaluation of 16,686 individuals who participated in the National health and Nutritional Examination Survey. Those who took Glucosamine for a year had an overall decrease in mortality of all causes by 39%.
That was not a clinical study but is certainly encouraging. How could the glucosamine have that effect? Glucosamine works by increasing Hyaluronic Acid or HA in the body. HA has positive effects on joints, skin, eyes, the immune system, the microbiome of the gut, wound healing and anti-aging. Considering those facts it is not leap to understand how an increased level of HA could have those effects. In real life examples, the naked mole rat is the most long lived rodent in the world by a long shot. And it has a low incidence of cancer and related diseases which has been postulated to be due to their natural high genetic concentration of HA.
The “Village of Long Life” in Japan, Yuzuri Hara, was studied by the World Health Organization and ABC News and Connie Chung. These villagers lived very long lives with little or no cancer or other diseases common in the aging population. The prime factor in their lives seems to be their diet which is high in HA. The common denominator in all three studies would seem to be an increase bioavailability of Hyaluronic Acid producing not just increased longevity but long and healthy lives.
Hyaluronic Acid has been called “the fountain of youth” in various forms over the years and now research may be bringing a foundation to that claim.