"Dog" Glucosamine vs. "Human" Glucosamine?

[Chaser]

I recently heard that dogs should not be given the glucosamine that humans take, but rather need their own kind (same with horses), because they can't absorb it properly. It's apparently a formulation difference rather than a dosing one.

I have to admit I'm not really buying that, but wanted to know what others had to say since a Google search didn't unearth any clear answers.

Has anyone else heard of this before? I have noticed many members on here reporting the use of regular drugstore gluc/chon and getting positive results, so I can't imagine why it would matter.

Any thoughts?

[Chaser]

Dr. Lee discussed this a bit in another post:

http://www.pets.ca/forum/showthread....ose#post582357

I think the confusion from the person I heard it from was re: glucosamine HCL vs. glucosamine sulfate.

Has anyone ever heard one or the other is more or less effective in dogs? I feel inclined to think not....but am curious.

[Dr Lee]

Glucosamine hydrochloride is far superior:

Quoted from Nutramax company...

Published data indicate that both salts are equally effective and that the sulfate moiety may not participate in any biological activity. You would require, however, substantially more of the sulfate salt to get an equal dose of glucosamine. [Fenton JI, et al: The Effects of Glucosamine Derivatives on Equine Articular Cartilage Degradation in Explant Culture. Osteoarthritis and Cartilage 8: 444, 2000] The glucosamine hydrochloride salt yields almost twice (1.7 x) as much useful, bioavailable glucosamine compared to the same mg amount of glucosamine sulfate.

For example, a 500 mg tablet of glucosamine hydrochloride yields approximately 409 mg of bioactive glucosamine whereas a 500 mg tablet of glucosamine sulfate yields only 239 mg of bioactive glucosamine.

The glucosamine yield difference is due to both the fact that the "sulfate" moiety is larger than the "hydrochloride moiety" to begin with and, more importantly, the purity of glucosamine sulfate salt is only about 80 % versus over 99% purity of the glucosamine hydrochloride salt. The result is, as mentioned, 1.7 times more glucosamine from the glucosamine hydrochloride salt as compared to the glucosamine sulfate salt on an equal mg weight basis.

It is interesting to note that the vast majority of the veterinary (and human) research on glucosamine in the United States has been done with the combination of glucosamine hydrochloride and chondroitin sulfate primarily using Cosequin®


Hope that helps!

[Chaser]

Thanks Dr. Lee!

So is that to say that BOTH humans and dogs should be striving to use the more effective glucosamine hydrochloride? I wonder how anyone got the idea one is for dogs and horses and the other is for humans?