Glucosamine + chondroitin from shark, no gel shell

[EverythingInModeration]

Getting on in one's years, one finds that resistance and/or impact training requires some joint fortification. Glucosamine + chondroitin has been my go-to supplement, despite the lack of indisputable statistical evidence from well designed studies. I find that things generally tend to improve a few months after taking them, though by no means does it eliminate joint problems.

My issue is the inability to vet sources with any degree of confidence to ensure that the chondroitin component comes from shark products rather than cow products. Quite apart from my inability to check the veracity of claims, it's also quite hard to identify products that ostensibly meet my criterion. For example, I found one very niche product that says the chondroitin is from shark, but then says that the supplement comes in gelatin capsule. Which is made from ...(guess what) ???

I was completely baffled by why a vendor would go to the trouble of having the chondroitin component come from sharks, then undermine the whole effort by encapsulating the product in gelatin. Sure, most buyers probably wouldn't realize that gelatin comes from bovine products, but the vendor sure as heck knew. I got the impression that they didn't fully understand the general concerns in play, and just wanted a product that checked off the boxes of consumer concerns as far as the vendor could superficially identify them.

Anyway, if anyone is aware of something from a reputable source that avoids bovine products, thanks if you can chime in. I realize that there are "threats" to product and supply chain security, such as counterfeit goods (especially ordering online) so I intend to buy either directly from the manufacturer or to first verify with the manufacturer that a vendor on (say) amazon is really them.

[Erok]

What do you have against cows? Cows are our friends.

[EverythingInModeration]

My concern is the risk of mad cow disease, and the lack of oversight
in the sources of the ingredients. It all seems like a black box.

The most recent dated info from 2016:
Can Chondroitin Be Contaminated With Mad Cow Disease?

Mayo clinic mention of the risk (amongst many others):
Chondroitin sulfate Safety - Mayo Clinic

Old or undated articles:
Safety of Popular Arthritis Supplements Questioned; In an Exclusive to Vertibrae's RheumatologyWeb, Experts Investigate Whether or Not Chondroitin Supplements are Safe From Mad Cow Disease Contamination
http://www.synflexamerica.com/includ...ondroitin.html
Safety Bulletin: Mad Cow and Chondroitin - An Important Message from Jean Carper | Live in the Now
(This downplays the concern)

Undated potential solutions:
http://summitnutritionals.com/mad-co...se-chondroitin
http://www.htl-bio.com/products/299/chondroitin.php

[MarinePMI]

IIRC, that was the same concern voiced by Dr. Steve Pratt at a seminar he put on for an executive program I attended. He was pretty adamant (FWIW) about avoiding it, as it wasn't scientifically proven to be helpful and there were no industry controls in place to limit exposure to tainted cow hooves (which he said was the primary source).

It's the reason I have stuck mainly to just taking a fish oil supplement.

[EverythingInModeration]

I understand the idea of needing corroboration by well constructed studies, but as I described in my original post, my decision to invest in glucosamine is based on the subjective experience that it has an effect. I have to make a subjective decision on whether it might be a placebo effect, and certainly, the probability is there. However, due to the pattern and timing of the effect, repeatedly through the years, I have sufficient confidence in the probability of a real effect that I'm willing to invest. In the end, it's a personal judgement call that we each make, balancing off all the facts.

[Polishdude20]

None of those articles specifically mention gelatin as a possible carrier of the disease. Also, looking at the wikipedia page for gelatin, it looks like the main source of it is in pork products not bovine. Those articles bring up a concern with the actual chondroitin being from bovine products. I don't see much supporting evidence that the gelatin itself is going to give you mad cow disease. Most of the capsule pills people take are encapsulated in gelatin. Wouldn't that be recalled by now if it was a problem?

[EverythingInModeration]

True that. But the glucosamine+chondroitin capsules I've taken are not encapsulated, so why bother with the risk, no matter how small?

[Polishdude20]

I think you're being overly cautious about this.

[ColoWayno]

The glucosamine+chondroitin capsules I've taken are not encapsulated

Me confuse.

[EverythingInModeration]

I think it's a definite possibility (that worrying about gelatin is overly cautious). But apart from the gelatin, supplements don't get the scrutiny that foods do, so I'm not even sure what level of confidence is warranted in claims that certain products don't contain brands of glucosamine + chondroitin do not contain bovine products. Don't get me wrong. I don't necessarily believe that the risk is high. But from the perspective of doing due diligence, there's nothing I can point to that indicates that the risk is low. One vendor sent me al litany of safety tests that they do on their products, and I asked where among all that was there oversight of bovine products. The response was that they rely on import rules against products from countries that have had mad cow. And yet there is no testing of supplements, so when the actual manufacture of the product can take place in any country, that equates to no oversight at all. Not a comforting state of affairs.