United Kingdom—Glucosamine could be related to lower risk of CVD events, according to a studypublished in BMJ.

The study was performed on 466,039 patients without CVD at baseline who completed a questionnaire on supplement use. They were enrolled from 2006 to 2010 and followed up to 2016. During that follow-up, the study says, there were 10,204 CVD events, 3,060 CVD deaths, 5,745 coronary heart disease events, and 3,263 stroke events. After adjusting for all other factors, the study found that glucosamine use was associated with a significantly lower risk of CVD events, CVD death, coronary heart disease, and stroke.

Jacob Teitelbaum, M.D., noted in a media statement that “Glucosamine is clearly one of the most effective non-pharmaceutical treatments to decrease heart attack and stroke risk safely and naturally, and the only side-effect is that it reduces or totally eliminates arthritis pain.”

While he says NSAIDs and other arthritis or heart medication are often thoroughly worthwhile, he also notes that it’s worth discussing a trial regimen based on supplements with a trained healthcare professional before starting medication. “Botanicals have been used as medicine for centuries,” adds Dr. Teitelbaum, “and now research suggests that they’re also the medicine of the future.”