Relieving pain (Part 1)
I have a client who is an ex-farmer who was having real trouble with osteoarthritis in his knees. Realistically surgery was his only option. We should be grateful that the surgical options available today are often transformational.
However, as I say to clients, once you are cut, you can’t be uncut. In other words, surgery is fine, but you should exhaust every non-surgical option available. Part of the problem though is that other than surgery, medical options for most joint problems are limited to pain relief, physiotherapy and exercise.
A note on paracetamol
Pain relief medication can be very helpful, but all drug options, even paracetamol, come with their own list of problems. I am very concerned about the effects of long-term paracetamol use. If you are on long term paracetamol you should include selenium, OPC and N-acetylcysteine as part of your supplement programme to help prevent liver toxicity caused by reductions in the important enzyme glutathione peroxidase.
If you want to read more go to https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3576299/
This paper explains how acetaminophen (paracetamol) causes liver toxicity by reducing glutathione. We make glutathione from selenium while N-acetylcysteine (NAC) helps to recycle glutathione thus preventing toxicity. NAC in high doses is the main medical method of treating paracetamol poisoning. NAC is also available as an ingredient in supplements. I have this in MTQ10 and Antiox Plus.
Research shows that OPC (oligomeric proanthocyanidins) can help the liver detoxify paracetamol. When OPC (in Cell eXtra, Antiox Plus, Curcumin Plus and MTQ10) is combined with selenium (in Cell eXtra) and NAC (in MTQ10 and Antiox Plus) these will help to help your liver to process and eliminate the medication.
Causes of Osteoarthritis
There are many factors that can cause joint problems the most common being osteoarthritis (OA). Genetics has a strong hand to play with some people having a strong genetic tendency towards OA. It can be caused or worsened by occupation and or trauma. Direct injury to joints can set of a faulty biochemical chain that finishes with destruction of cartilage secreting cells called chondrocytes resulting in cartilage loss.
Faulty biochemistry
Interestingly the same basic faulty biochemistry is also triggered by nutritional factors. A deficiency in antioxidants especially those made by the trace minerals selenium, zinc, copper and manganese leave chondrocytes exposed to oxidative stress, a technical term to describe free radical damage.
The end result is always the same. Chondrocytes are damaged or die and this means cartilage cannot be repaired. Eventually cartilage thins and is lost, often replaced by bony spurs. Bones grow extra bone (as spurs) where cartilage is lost to protect the now exposed and vulnerable end of bones that form the damaged joint.
Inflammatory responses
The body then tries in vain to heal the damage by flooding the joint capsule with extra fluid to bring chemicals into the capsule. This process is inflammation. These chemicals (mostly prostaglandins and cytokines) usually bring healing to tissue, but not with OA. The extra fluid causes swelling, often heat, but always pain, stiffness and loss of function.
Client example
Back now to my client who I started helping a few years ago. I created a personalised nutritional support programme which included dietary recommendation to support cartilage and to reduce inflammation. We added supplements initially at higher doses.
This included my Bettaflex OA support supplement which is a little different to most. While it includes glucosamine the real hero is the high amounts of high grade chondroitin sulphate supported by meaningful amounts of curcumin from turmeric to reduce inflammation. With a double dose of 2 capsules twice daily this delivers 1600mg of both chondroitin and glucosamine with 400mg of BioSolve ® 100% water soluble curcumin (from turmeric) extract.
My client thinks he has delayed future surgery by 10 years. Have we ‘cured’ his arthritis? Not at all. Has the damaged cartilage returned? Not in any meaningful amounts. What happened is that we have improved the health of remaining chondrocytes and intercepted the destructive biochemical cascade that had him on a one-way ticket to surgery. We have supported the health of his joint capsules by reducing inflammation and helping remaining chondrocytes to stay healthy.
John Arts (B.Soc.Sci, Dip Tch, Adv.Dip.Nut.Med.) is a nutritional medicine practitioner and founder of Abundant Health. If you have questions or need help you can contact John 0800 423559. You can email John at john@abundant.co.nz.
Please note that the health advice given through this column is for general educational purposes only and is not intended to diagnose or treat any health problem. © John Arts 2025