I have looked at a couple of papers on PubMed (from the NIH), and the conclusions are inconclusive, i.e. it may be effective in reducing inflammation and its resulting pain, stiffness, and lack of function. They don’t seem to be willing to go any further than that.
Do you know of any specific studies or metastudies on this topic (specifically, AKBA as a treatment for osteoarthritis) that I should look at? Or any advice in general on further research on this topic?
Do you have any personal experience (either for yourself or as a medical professional) with the use of AKBA to ameliorate the inflammation arising from osteoarthritis?
I am requesting that you not post anecdotes about other treatments you may have tried. Thank you for your consideration.
From the reviews I’ve seen, there’s fairly good evidence of at at least short-term value in treating OA and acceptable safety, but still a need for large, high-quality clinical trials.
One recent review didn’t demonstrate significant effectiveness of Boswellia extracts in the overall meta-analysis; they had to delve into subgroups to find positive results.
There are a lot of Boswellia supplements out there including at least one (Aflapin) touted as a standardized extract. The usual caveats about poorly regulated/tested supplements apply (“Boswellia” may be effective in a clinical trial, Supplement X - maybe not).
Thanks for the link. I have mild to moderate OA in both knees, but really bad in one hip. Apparently OA in knees is the most common.
This is all confusing to me. Aflapin has good results in a double-blind etc. study, but what is it and who makes it? I found a supplement on Amazon that claims to contain Aflapin, but how do I know that it really does? Does the maker sell it (I can’t find it so far if it does). And what is the right dosage? I’ve seen everything from equivalent of 20 mg once a day to 200 mg three times a day.
I don’t know how a regular person is supposed to be able to figure this out. I have a followup appointment with a PA in an orthopedics practice next week, and I’ll ask him about it, but I’m not expecting him to recommend any OTC product. I have been getting pretty good results so far from physical therapy, but I don’t know how far that can go towards getting me back to my normal self.
Your doc should be aware of Boswellia and can advise you whether a trial is a reasonable idea.
One paper I found which suggested that Aflapin gave better results than other Boswellia supplements had a co-author identified as being affiliated with a “bioceutical” company. It would not surprise me if that company was connected with Aflapin.
If you decide to give Boswellia a try, it’s probably a good idea not to use products sourced from India, due to frequent adulteration/contamination issues with Indian supplements.
Thank you for this note. I have not followed this sort of thing at all in the past, so I will have to try to find out more about adulteration and contamination of supplements with reference to country of origin.