Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Save Joints with Glucosamine, Make Money

What do seniors, boomers & heavy weight-lifters all have in common? They all need extra joint support. I am not talking about braces or walkers. I am talking about promoting healthy cartilage, ligaments, tendons and collagen. You can get all this and more from the shell o’ the shrimp ! Glucosamine and Chondroitin.

This supplement is used for a range of conditions – joint pain, stiffness, inflammation, cartilage repair and so on. So you might ask, why the heavy weight-lifter? This athlete, along with the aerobics instructor, the avid runner & serious cyclists are all putting a lot of stress on their joints, ligaments and tendons. They ask a lot of their bodies, so I recommend giving it a lot back, in the form of tissue support from glucosasmine and chondroitin.

When I asked my trainer about this, and I value her opinion and advice highly, she told me not only about the relief it gave her knees when she was an aerobics instructor, doing upwards of 200 squats/day. She also told me that among the trainers that she works with, none of them agree on what supplements should be recommended to their clients… however, they all agree on 3 supplements – the multi-vitamin, calcium and glucosasmine and chondroitin.

Naturally she stressed getting them from a good reputable source and not just buying anything the grocery store was pedaling. On this subject, I cannot be swayed; it is liquids all the way. The supplement industry is working feverishly on providing both food and beverage form products, i.e. vitamin water. This is the best way to have the nutrients absorb into the system and be used and retained in the system. Liquids provide up to 98% absorption, compared to 20-30% from pills. Since, they are not prevalent in the marketplace, if you are providing your clients with a source of great tasting liquid supplements you are ahead of the pack and they will be coming back… to you.

There are numerous studies finding benefits of glucosasmine and chondroitin to the joint tissues and to arthritis sufferers. But people hear negative stories on supplements every day and are reticent to act. For those that want authoritative information I send them to see what the National Institutes of Health has to say on the subject -
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/natural/patient-glucosamine.html
For an analysis of many studies on the subject see this study -
http://www.rowingact.org.au/SDO/Masters/Glucosamine.html
and, of course, for more articles regarding glucosasmine, please see my site, www.fullperformancefitness.com/articles

The good news is there are lots of people out there already taking this supplement and if your trainers are recommending the great tasting liquid version that is available in your facility, they will buy it from you. The bad news is, if someone is not already taking it, you may have to provide them with some information to help educate them. I have armed you with several sources, so get out there and protect some joints.

1 comment:

  1. There are numerous studies finding benefits of glucosasmine and chondroitin. good searing to me, Synflex 1500

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