Dietary Supplementation with Blueberry in OA
Research type
Research Study
Full title
HIGHBUSH BLUEBERRY SUPPLEMENTATION FOR OSTEOARTHRITIS PAIN, INTRA-ARTICULAR INFLAMMATION AND POSTOPERATIVE RECOVERY IN TOTAL KNEE REPLACEMENT PATIENTS.
IRAS ID
318841
Contact name
Mary O'Leary
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Exeter
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 2 months, 1 days
Research summary
Osteoarthritis is a painful long term joint condition that is associated with poor quality of life. There are no treatments to prevent it. Inflammation is one cause of osteoarthritis. This inflammation is complex. It involves many joint tissues, like cartilage and fat. It also involves many proteins that act as inflammatory ‘signals’. Safely targeting these proteins with medications has so far proved ineffective. Physiotherapy and weight loss can help osteoarthritis, but there is a need for other approaches.
Blueberries are rich in natural chemicals called polyphenols; these have well-established anti-inflammatory effects. Blueberries and other fruits may improve osteoarthritis symptoms, but we don’t know how this improvement happens. It may be that these foods reduce inflammation within the joint tissues. We will investigate this. This will help us to understand 1) how blueberries improve osteoarthritis symptoms and 2) whether dietary supplementation with blueberries could slow down joint damage in osteoarthritis, rather than just improving symptoms. Additionally, high levels of joint inflammation predict poorer recovery from joint replacement surgery. Therefore, blueberry supplementation may hasten this recovery.
Fifty eight people scheduled to have a knee replacement for osteoarthritis will receive either six weeks blueberry supplementation or a placebo pre-surgery. Participants will continue the supplementation for six weeks after surgery. First, this study will use tissue samples (cartilage, fat and the joint lining called synovium) obtained during surgery to investigate the effects of pre-operative blueberry supplementation on markers of joint inflammation. Second, this study will assess the ability of dietary supplementation with blueberries to improve the symptoms of osteoarthritis. Finally, this study will investigate the effect of blueberry supplementation on recovery from total knee replacement. Our investigations may provide evidence to support dietary supplementation with blueberries to slow down osteoarthritis progression and to improve recovery from osteoarthritis joint replacement surgery.REC name
Wales REC 7
REC reference
23/WA/0057
Date of REC Opinion
28 Feb 2023
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion