Glucosamine which is widely taken to help joint pain, may lower a person's risk of cardiovascular disease, BBC reports.

The findings from a new research about the food supplements were published in the British Medical Journal.

Nearly half a million people in the UK studied

Almost one in five of the 466,039 participants reported they took glucosamine. All of them didn’t have cardiovascular disease in the beginning. Participants were enrolled from 2006 to 2010 and were followed up to 2016.

Results of the 10 years observation

During a follow-up of seven years, there were 10 204 incident CVD events, 3060 CVD deaths, 5745 coronary heart disease events, and 3263 stroke events.

Glucosamine was associated with a 9%-22% lower risk of CVD death, coronary heart disease and stroke, compared to non-use over the 10 years of the study.

The results show that users were less likely to develop heart and artery diseases or stroke, or die from these conditions. The results suggest a possible benefit, but more and longer studies are needed.

More research needed

It could be that users are generally more healthy, rather than glucosamine having a direct effect, experts caution.

The new suggested link to a lower risk of cardiovascular disease needs more research. The BMJ study was observational - it can't establish cause. And it did not include detailed information on glucosamine dose or duration of use.

The researchers believe the supplement may have an anti-inflammatory effect, which could explain the suggested benefit, but more investigations are needed.

You can read the whole study HERE