Research on the effects of the popular joint supplement glucosamine has raised fears for women’s fertility, and a knee-jerk reaction from the vitamin industry, as Adelaide scientists reveal its threat to conception.
Jeremy Thompson and a team from the Robinson Research Institute, University of Adelaide, found that glucosamine increased the possibility of congenital abnormalities and reduced foetus and litter size when it was injected into mice before conception.
“There are concerns that women who take glucosamine and who are trying to conceive may be reducing their chances of conception,” says Jeremy. “We are particularly concerned that it could increase problems in people with diabetes.”
The study, which was published last year in the journal Reproduction, Fertility and Development, had garnered vitamin industry vitriol.
“The industry came out strongly against our preliminary findings, but we have increasing amounts of data that supports what we’re proposing,” Jeremy says.
Glucosamine, which is taken as a dietary supplement for joint health and added to many energy drinks, is an amino sugar that mimics hyperglycaemia by interfering with the normal activity of a glucose-sensing pathway.
Jeremy and his team used glucosamine to investigate how diabetes negatively affects foetal development around conception.
“Glucosamine has been a very powerful tool for manipulating a metabolic pathway highly associated with diabetes,” says Jeremy. “And we found glucosamine has a dramatic impact on egg and embryo health.”
With the help of a new ARC Centre of Excellence grant for the Centre for Nanoscale BioPhotonics, the team aims to better understand the links between hyperglycaemia, embryo development and intergenerational health.