Osteoarthritis is a debilitating condition, affecting mostly the elderly and it significantly worsens quality of life, as well as increasing risks of bone fractures, which in the elderly is a very serious problem due to reduced healing ability. However, rates of osteoarthritis have also been rising lately even in the young cohorts of the population, which is very troubling to say the least. There are no effective drugs on the market for this condition and “treatment” is reduced to just managing symptoms. In other words, the condition is degenerative and has no known curative or ameliorating treatments. The study below suggests that niacinamide may be a promising candidate for a drug that treats this conditions. The study was with humans and used a dosage of 3g niacinamide daily. This resulted in ~30% improvement of symptoms and notable improvement in various biomarkers of inflammation and bone degeneration. While the dose is high, it is still within the dose known to be safe. Medicine claims that niacinamide up to 3g has no known serious adverse effects, aside from minor GI upset, and this is what the study observed as well. I posted about studies showing that even a low dose of aspirin also has a robust anti-arthritic effects, and there is a known synergy between the effects of aspirin and niacinamide. That may allow a combination of aspirin and niacinamide to produce even stronger benefit at lower doses for each compound.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8841834/
“…Seventy two patients with osteoarthritis were randomized for treatment with niacinamide or an identical placebo for 12 weeks. Outcome measures included global arthritis impact and pain, joint range of motion and flexibility, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, complete blood count, liver function tests, cholesterol, uric acid, and fasting blood sugar. Compliance was monitored with a pill record sheet and interview. Global arthritis impact improved by 29% (95% confidence interval [CI] 6, 46) in subjects on niacinamide and worsened by 10% in placebo subjects (p = 0.04). Pain levels did not change but those on niacinamide reduced their anti-inflammatory medications by 13% (95% CI 9, 94; p = 0.01). Niacinamide reduced erythrocyte sedimentation rate by 22% (95% CI 6, 51; p < 0.005) and increased joint mobility by 4.5 degrees over controls (8 degrees vs 3.5 degrees; p = 0.04). Side effects were mild but higher in the niacinamide group (40% vs 27%, p = 0.003). This study indicates that niacinamide may have a role in the treatment of osteoarthritis. Niacinamide improved the global impact of osteoarthritis, improved joint flexibility, reduced inflammation, and allowed for reduction in standard anti-inflammatory medications when compared to placebo. More extensive evaluation of niacinamide in arthritis is warranted.”
