Food supplements that contain glucosamine can constitute a health risk for patients who take coumarin anticoagulants as blood coagulation inhibitor

Glucosamine is used as medicinal product to treat arthrosis of the knee joints. Yet glucosamine is also provided in numerous food supplements that are also considered foodstuffs in intake amounts that are below medicinal dosages. The German authorities for the official control of foodstuffs are responsible for controlling the marketability of these substances.

BfR has already assessed the health risks associated with glucosamine in food supplements in a past Opinion  and identified three risk groups: a) diabetics and/or individuals with impaired glucose tolerance, b) patients with a known risk for cardiovascular diseases and c) persons who take certain blood coagulation inhibitors known as coumarin anticoagulants. In the present Opinion, BfR has once again assessed the health risk for risk groups b) and c). This was carried out because these risk groups were not identified as such in a recent Opinion of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) on the use of glucosamine as food ingredient. 

A repeated assessment has led BfR to continue to classify individuals who take coumarin anticoagulants as belonging to a risk group. For daily intake amounts of 390-790 milligrams of isolated glucosamine in food supplements, BfR deems measures that protect individuals who take coumarin anticoagulants necessary. The Institute advises consumers who take such medication (coumarin anticoagulants) to abstain from consuming food supplements that contain said amounts of isolated glucosamine as daily rations.