An anecdotal meta-study of popularized clinical 'studies' seems to indicate that they do no harm at
worst. I note that when first introduced to the public they were touted as 'joint support'
supplements after attracting attention - chondroitin - as an anti-cancer agent and now are quoted as
'triple skin-conditioners' when used with lanolin.
I am most amused by the recent claims for emu-oil, "used for thousands of years by aborigines" when
they didn't have a written language until their culture was overwhelmed by outsiders - much more
recently than even one thousand years ago.
Read a bit on 'homeopathy', even just from a dictionary written before this era of politically
correct tolerance of nonsense, and think on the topic while riding. W7NCD '71 says, "a system of
medical practice that treats a disease esp.[sic] by the administration of minute doses of a remedy
that would in healthy persons produce symptoms of the disease treated."
IIRC one of the fundamental precepts of homeopathy is 'potentiation' by diluting the active
ingredient even to the point that it can be mathematically proven that not one molecule remains in
some one dose. The power of this concept might be demonstrated by reference to the definition of
homeopathy and considering a hypothetical 'curative' toxin. Potentiate it as a homeopathic remedy
and 'magically' ("technology sufficiently advanced is indistinguishable from,") all patients survive
and some are made 'better'.
Clearly, Your Mileage May Vary but yours is impressive. I am an allopath. This is Usenet. The
conspiracy of ignorance masquerades as common sense.
"FlashSteve" <
[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I'm wondering if anyone has an educated (or even researched-backed)
opinion on
> using these supplements to maintain long-term connective tissue health. I
am
> 56-years old, have averaged close to 10,000 cycling miles/year for twenty
years
> and would like to continue riding for another 30 years (hey, my 84 year
old Dad
> just retired from cycling). I have no significant physical problems now;
what
> do you think of starting to use glucosomine and chondroitin?
>
> Steve Scarich