Glucosamine

Dieser Text ist offline, weil in der englischen Fassung die Aktualisierung der deutschen Fassung vom 21.1.2013 anscheinend nicht eingearbeitet wurde.

Glucosamine is an amino sugar that occurs naturally in human connective tissue, in cartilage and synovial fluid. It is used as medicinal product to treat arthrosis of the knee joints. Yet glucosamine is also provided in numerous food supplements that are also considered foodstuffs in intake amounts that are below medicinal dosages. The German authorities for the official control of foodstuffs are responsible for controlling the marketability of these substances.

BfR has already assessed the health risks associated with glucosamine in food supplements in a past Opinion1 and identified three risk groups:

a) diabetics and/or individuals with impaired glucose tolerance,
b) patients with a known risk for cardiovascular diseases and
c) persons who take certain blood coagulation inhibitors known as coumarin anticoagulants.

In the present Opinion, BfR has once again assessed the health risk for risk groups b) and c). This was carried out because these risk groups were not identified as such in a recent Opin-
ion of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) on the use of glucosamine as food ingredient. In regard to the group of individuals with a known risk for cardiovascular diseases, BfR concurs with EFSA after a review of the latest research findings. Thus, packages of food supplements that contain glucosamine do not require a notice on the health risks for these consumer groups.

However a repeated assessment has led BfR to continue to classify individuals who take coumarin anticoagulants as belonging to a risk group. The Institute has assessed the health risks using case studies and concluded that the combined intake of glucosamine with coumarin anticoagulants that contain the active substance warfarin or acenocoumarol bears the risk of an adverse increase of the anticoagulation effect of coumarin anticoagulants. BfR currently has no case studies available on the active substance phenprocoumon, which also belongs to the group of coumarin anticoagulants. For daily intake amounts of 390-790 milligrams of isolated glucosamine in food supplements, BfR deems measures that protect individuals who take coumarin anticoagulants necessary. The Institute advises consumers who take such medication (coumarin anticoagulants) to abstain from consuming food supplements that contain said amounts of isolated glucosamine as daily rations.

BfR-Opionion

21/1/2013