QUESTION

Following on from a question displayed on your site. My 10 month old Bernese has just had surgery for arthritis and had been prescribed Synoquin. Researching on the web I have found an American product called Syn-Flex. Much the same but with several other components. Their pages state that the absorption rate for Glucosamine powder is 11-20% but in liquid form 98%. The orthopaedic vet who performed the op didn't know if the capsule contained liquid or powder. Having checked it is powder. My instincts question USA advertising but against this with their litigatious culture surely a rival produced would have challenged the claims if factually incorrect.

The site is http://www.activexamerica.com/pets.

It might be cheaper than the lady's source but I am more interested in the absorption side and a professional opinion on the other elements such as Yucca, Boswellin, Bromelaine contained in Syn-flex and whether they are likely to help more than using Synoquin.

I bred this Bern and had hopes for her in the show ring. The father's owner was breed judge at Crufts, but really want to do anything and everything possible so she enjoy gallops on the beach for as many years as possible.

Sorry to be so longwinded.

Richard Price, UK

ANSWER

Dear Richard,
I am not aware of any work showing the relative absorbency of glucosamine in a liquid vs a powdered form but would make a few observations.

Glucosamine comes in several forms which vary tremendously in effectiveness.

The active form of the glucosamine is N-acetyl-d-glucosamine which is found in a Synoquin capsule at 50mg per capsule and in a 99% pure form.

The absorption of this by the gut is tremendous with a very high percentage of the active ingredient getting into the joints and doing its job.

You would have to check on the Synoquin technical site for further information as to the absorbance but information I received recently about the relative merits of different products still leads me to believe that Synoquin is the most cost effective treatment of its category on the market.

I have had a look on the site that you have listed and on a couple of linked sites which give information that conflicts with that that we received at a meeting only 3 months ago on the relative merits.

The glucosamine also is meant to vary in effectiveness depending on the grade of purity etc. of the product and the only product that I am aware of that comes close to Synoquin in quality is one called Cosequin.

My understanding of glucosamine sulphate is that in the stomach the sulphate is replaced by a HCl and that this can lead to some stomach problems if taken in quantity and loses a large amount of the effectiveness, but that then once absorbed a percentage is then destroyed by the liver before being converted into the active ingredients.

This leaves a residual amount of glucosamine in the joints getting down as low as only 5% of that absorbed.

The levels on glucosamine HCl in the study I have seen were in the region of 15% getting into the joints or around 3 times that of glucosamine sulphate.

Other things in the capsule also work as cofactors which enhance the activity levels.

I would like to look into this for my own benefit and will forward a further reply to you as soon as possible so as to continue the discussion.

Paul Wilson

Follow-up from Paul J. Wilson To follow up on your question re the relative absorbtion of liquid vs powders I have managed to find out some further information.

The trial that they refer to was one done in house by the manufacturer and compared the use of a liquid to the use of an enteric coated tablet.

The enteric coating of the tablets was tried by one company and found not to work very well so they are comparing to a formulation that is not available at all.

The absorbtion of glucosamine from Synoquin is in excess of 95% with 14% of the active ingredient getting into the cartilage matrix.

The other interesting thing is the comparison between glucosamine HCl and Sulphate.

100gms of Glucosamine HCl contains 83g glucosamine where glucosamine sulphate 100gms contains 59gms.

This means that the amount of additional glucosamine available in the HCl form by molecular weight is tremendously more.

The glucosamine sulphate is also a very unstable molecule and as such needs to be buffered with use of salts mostly pottassium chloride which can then lead to problems in itself.

The glucosamine HCl in the synoquin is also 99% pure and this has been explained to me that they know it is in excess of 99% but can not prove 100% in every batch as no machine will give readings above 99.999% so can not claim 100%.

It is also an interesting thing that the website that you directed me to and a lot of others on the web to do with glucosamine in dogs are all interelated and owned by Activex America the manufacturers of the liquid Syn flex so can not be relied on to be totally impartial.

Paul Wilson