Natural Health On the Web is here for you.  It’s here for you as a resource for natural health information in general, but it’s also here to provide you with specific information for how to treat various conditions.

One condition that a lot of people have asked me about over the years is arthritis.

Next to heart disease, arthritis is the most debilitating disease in America.  In fact, heart disease and arthritis are linked, as Finnish researchers discovered in 2003 that people with osteoarthritis in their fingers are 40 percent more likely to die from heart disease. (i.e., among men, 23 percent among women).

Because arthritis is so prevalent in our society, it’s one of the handful of conditions I list in the left hand column of my web site.  It’s not as replete with articles as other topics, but this in no way should be construed as an indication of it not being a serious problem.  Anything that adversely affects an estimated 50 million people is most definitely a problem.

Because it’s such a big problem, I’m always on the lookout for studies that talk about how people can achieve some relief from their arthritis symptoms.  I’ve already listed a number of them, but a new study has found another alternative.

According to research recently published in the journal Phytotherapy Research, people that supplement with shea tree extract significantly reduced the inflammation and cartilage breakdown that results from arthritis.

Researchers from the Australian Center for Complementary Medicine Education and Research in Brisbane followed the supplementing habits of 89 people with osteoarthritis, the most common type of arthritis there is (and there are hundreds of types of arthritis).  Half of the participants took a placebo, and half took a shea tree extract supplement every day for 15 weeks.

After the 15-week study period, the researchers looked at markers that signal increases or decreases in inflammation.  One of the markers, TNF-alpha, told them all they needed to know.  For people on the shea tree extract, their inflammation reduced by about 25 percent, compared to the six percent decrease in the placebo-supplementing group.

Shea tree extract is a relatively unknown supplement in the natural health world, but if you’ve heard of shea butter (a popular product for Bath and Body Works enthusiasts), then you’ve heard of Shea tree extract.  Both derive from the same tree, which is indigenous to Africa.

As with all studies, more needs to be performed before you’ll find shea extract on vitamin and supplement store shelves, but the positive findings are very promising.

Glucosamine—you no longer have a corner on the joint health market.

Sources
arthritis.webmd.com
nutraingredients.com
associatedcontent.com
cdc.gov