Dietary glucosamine supplement use and lower surgery risk in individuals with inflammatory bowel disease: a prospective Cohort Study.

PURPOSE

We aim to evaluate the association between the use of glucosamine, a widely used dietary supplement, and the risk of IBD-related surgery in a prospective cohort study.

METHODS

We leveraged data from 6059 individuals with IBD from the UK Biobank. Habitual use, frequency of use, and the dose of glucosamine were evaluated using self-reported records, multiple rounds of dietary recall, and prescription information from primary care data, respectively. IBD-related surgery was identified through inpatient data. Cox proportional-hazard model and logistic regression model were applied to examine the associations.

RESULTS

During a mean follow-up of 12.2 years, we documented 684 incident IBD-related surgery events. Compared with non-users, habitual glucosamine users presented (66.6 vs 97.1 cases/10,000 person-years, HR 0.73, 95% CI 0.58-0.92, P = 0.009) lowered risk of IBD-related surgery, decreased risk in Crohn's disease (80.6 vs 131.0 cases/10,000 person-years, HR 0.60, 95% CI 0.41-0.89, P = 0.011), while it was not significant in ulcerative colitis (61.1 vs 79.5 cases/10,000 person-years, HR 0.88, 95% CI 0.65-1.18, P = 0.386). The risks of IBD-related surgery were also lower among occasional users (HR 0.34, 95% CI 0.15-0.77, P = 0.010) and constant users (HR 0.48, 95% CI 0.25-0.90, P = 0.022) than non-users. For those using prescribed glucosamine, a higher prescription dose was associated with a lower risk of related surgery (OR 0.15, 95% CI 0.02-0.86, P = 0.034).

CONCLUSION

Use of glucosamine, as a safe dietary supplement, is associated with a lower risk of IBD-related surgery, which would be a promising strategy in IBD management.