Shea Supplement Slows Osteoarthritis

NEW SOUTH WALES, Australia Extracts from the seed of the African shea tree (Vitellaria paradoxa) appear to slow osteoarthritis, according to researchers from Southern Cross University, Lismore, New South Wales. Published online ahead of print in Phytotherapy Research, the single-site, 15-week randomized, double-blind, parallel, placebo-controlled study examined a range of biomarkers in 89 patients with osteoarthritis of the knees and/or hips to determine potential modes of action of SheaFlex70, a triterpene-rich shea extract.

In the group of participants with levels of osteoarthritis biomarkers in the upper quartile at baseline, SheaFlex supplementation was linked to significant decreases in inflammation and cartilage breakdown and trend level decreases in bone remodeling, compared to placebo. Inflammation marker TNF-alpha fell 23.9 percent in the treatment group, with only a 6-percent drop for placebo; likewise, cartilage degradation marker CTX-II fell 28.7 percent for treated subjects, but increased 17.6 percent for placebo subjects. Osteocalcin levels fell 9.2 percent in the Shea group vs. only 1.2 percent for placebo.

Researchers concluded the shea extract slowed the disease process in patients with the highest levels of osteoarthritis biomarkers.