A quick search of Amazon for hyaluronic acid turns up thousands of products, from liquid serums to pills to creams that make a variety of claims.聽聽seem to focus on hyaluronic acid鈥檚 ability to ease skin redness and reduce wrinkles while聽聽focus on the benefits of hyaluronic acid on the joints. Some products, like聽, make claims about hyaluronic acid鈥檚 benefits to both the skin and joints.
How can one substance have so many effects? And is there any truth to the 鈥樷�� or聽鈥� declarations?
Within the body, hyaluronic acid plays an important, albeit diverse, role. It is a major component of epithelial tissue, and seems to play a role in cell division and movement. It is also a chief component of synovial fluid- the fluid found inside a synovial joint (like a human鈥檚 hips or wrists)- and acts as a lubricating agent. Hyaluronic acid is also found in joint cartilage, where it coats all the cells, and it even plays a role in the body鈥檚 innate immune system (high hyaluronic acid levels can be used as a marker for prostate and breast cancers). The average person has ~15 g of hyaluronic acid in their body, and about 1/3 of it is degraded each day.
In short, hyaluronic acid does a lot of things, from skin repair to joint lubrication, so it makes sense that promoters hype it as a possible treatment for a wide variety of health problems ranging from osteoarthritis to sun burns. But what does the science say about its efficacy?
Studies have shown intra-articular injections (injections into the joint) of hyaluronic acid to be just as effective, and sometimes more effective, at managing pain聽听辞谤听, often with聽, for patients with osteoarthritis. Likewise,聽聽looking at artificial tears containing hyaluronic acid, used to treat chronic dry eyes, have found it to be a safe and effective option.聽. The thing that begs investigation however, is the oral administration of hyaluronic acid.
There have been a聽聽on oral treatments of hyaluronic acid, and they all seem to have quite positive results.聽聽found that daily supplementation with oral hyaluronic acid enhanced several markers of quality of life in adults with osteoarthritis of the knee, and聽聽concluded that oral intake of high purity hyaluronic acid is effective in the treatment of American patients of knee osteoarthritis. Some studies,聽聽partnered oral hyaluronic acid supplements with exercise and also had positive results.
These results seem promising, and I鈥檇 be right on board the hype train with everyone else, if I hadn鈥檛 spent some time reading the methods sections of these studies. Each study used a daily amount of hyaluronic acid ranging from 60-200 mg. Most supplements recommend hyaluronic in the 100-200 mg range, but聽, perhaps one of the best known supplements, contains only 17 mg of hyaluronic acid in its once a day packets.聽
There is聽聽that orally administered hyaluronic acid is absorbed in the digestive tract and that it does migrate to the relevant connective tissues. There is also聽聽that it can have a biological effect without even being absorbed. These functions however, depend on there being enough hyaluronic acid molecules present to interact with the relevant receptors, and in a 17 mg dose, this likely just isn鈥檛 the case.
So by all means, ask your doctor about hyaluronic acid for your osteoarthritis or chronic dry eyes, but make sure to read the package before you buy the pills. As Dr Joe always says, it鈥檚 all about the dose!
