A widely used supplement for joint pain has been linked to a potentially concerning outcome in people with early cognitive problems. Researchers at the University of Florida found that glucosamine use was associated with a greater likelihood that mild cognitive impairment would progress to dementia. Mild cognitive impairment, often shortened to MCI, describes measurable problems with memory or thinking that are greater than expected with normal aging but do not necessarily interfere substantially with everyday life.
The findings come from a large retrospective analysis of patient health records, supported by experiments involving human brain tissue and mouse models of Alzheimer's disease. The results remain preliminary and will need to be tested in a human clinical trial, but the researchers say they add to growing evidence that disrupted metabolism may play an important role in neurodegeneration. The study was published in Nature Metabolism.
A Popular Supplement Comes Under Scrutiny "In the United States, there are about 7 million people living with Alzheimer's and millions more with related dementias such as Lewy body or frontotemporal dementia," said senior author Ramon Sun, Ph.D., director of the Center for Advanced Spatial Biomolecule Research and associate director for innovation of UF's McKnight Brain Institute. "A lot of these people actively take an over-the-counter supplement that could be making their disease progression worse." Glucosamine is widely sold without a prescription and is especially popular among older adults who take it for joint discomfort and joint health. Because of how commonly it is used, the researchers wanted to know whether it might influence Alzheimer's disease and related dementias, known as ADRD.
Working with Yi Guo, Ph.D., and Jiang Bian, Ph.D., the team used artificial intelligence to analyze deidentified UF Health records collected from 2012 to 2024. The researchers focused on patients diagnosed with either ADRD or mild cognitive impairment, or MCI. In both groups, 8% of patients reported using glucosamine.
That included 1,896 people with ADRD and 2,750 people with MCI. Glucosamine Linked to Dementia Progression After accounting for age, sex and demographics, the researchers found that glucosamine use was associated with a 25% higher likelihood that mild cognitive impairment would progress to dementia. Among people who already had ADRD, glucosamine use was also associated with a 25% higher mortality risk, meaning a greater likelihood of death during a defined period of time.
The researchers did not observe that mortality association in the MCI group. That difference suggests glucosamine may have a stronger effect once dementia is already established. Importantly, the health record findings do not show that glucosamine itself causes dementia to progress.
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