Joint pathologies affect more than 10 million French people. The most common is osteoarthritis, caused by joint wear and tear. This wear and tear is mainly related to age but prematurely affects physically demanding occupations and high-level athletes. Currently, there are two types of products on the market addressing these issues. On one hand, analgesics, which are very effective in temporarily relieving pain. However, it is well known that abusing analgesics and consuming excessively large daily quantities can be dangerous. On the other hand, slow-acting anti-arthritic agents (chondroitin, glucosamine) have never really convinced health professionals or patients. Deemed insufficient by the High Health Authority, they have been delisted. Yet, there is another innovative approach: oral immunological tolerance.
The mechanism of oral immunological tolerance
Joint wear and tear create joint inflammation often accompanied by pain, limiting joint mobility. Why? Inflammation triggers the immune system to mobilize around the joint tissue with an aggressive attitude. This immune system posture perpetuates inflammation, progressively worsening the situation, turning osteoarthritis into a chronic condition.
Oral tolerance is a mechanism that reverses the immune system's attitude to achieve anti-inflammatory and reconstructive action. This same completely natural mechanism is successfully used by allergists for allergic desensitization. In principle, allergy is an aggressive immune system reaction against the allergen, causing all the discomforts known to the patient. By administering tiny doses of the allergen repeatedly to allergic patients, the immune system modifies its reaction and permanently accepts this substance, considering it friendly. The patient is thus desensitized.
Interest of type II collagen in improving joint mobility
In the case of osteoarthritis, type II collagen in the joint is targeted by the immune system (TH1 white blood cells), exactly as in allergy. By administering tiny amounts of type II collagen, an anti-inflammatory and reconstructive action is obtained from the immune system (TH1). It has the advantage of being easily tolerated and presenting no undesirable side effects. Thus, pain will significantly decrease with improved mobility. Twenty years of clinical studies indeed show improvement in an average of 40 days with success in 70% of cases. To find out if you can benefit from joint improvement, simply take a tiny dose of type II collagen for 90 days. In case of failure, simply stop; in case of success, continuous supplementation is necessary.
Advice for joint mobility
It is wise to complement with a so-called "dermo-articular" gel, which acts immediately by relieving the joints. This massage gel, for its immediate action, allows oral immunological tolerance to be established.
Bibliography: (1) Transparency Commission of the High Health Authority, Opinion of November 20, 2013. (2) Oral type II collagen treatment in early rheumatoid arthritis: a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized trial. Joachim Sieper, Sonja Kary, Helmut Sorensen, Rieke Alten, Ulrich Eggens, Werner Huge, Falk Hiepe, Andrea Kuhne, Joachim Listing, Norbert Ulbrich, Jurgen Braun, Angela Zink, and Nicholas Avrion Mitchison. Source: Arthritis & Rheumatism Vol. 39. No 1 January 1996, pp 41-51. (3) Effects of oral administration of type II collagen on rheumatoid arthritis. David E. Trentham, Roselynn A. Dynesius-Trentham, E. John Orav, Daniel Combitchi, Carlos Lorenzo, Kathryn Lea Sewell, David A. Hafler, Howard L. Weiner. Source: Science, New Series, Vol. 261, No 5129 (24 Sept. 1993), pp. 1727-173.