Are all chondroitin sulfates & glucosamines the same?
No. The purity and grade of these compounds vary widely, depending on how they are produced. In the numerous studies that document the usefulness of chondroitin, and glucosamine as well, only the purest grades of these compounds were used. When compounds of lesser purity and quality are used, it would be expected that efficacy decreases proportionally. Another important point to remember is that dietary supplements are not subject to the government regulation that pharmaceuticals are. Therefore, labelling of these compounds may be inaccurate or misleading. Purchasers of dietary supplements hould be careful to buy only from a reputable manufacturer, where quality control programs are used to validate product purity and uniformity, and also subject their brand product to clinical evaluation.
