Dietary Supplementation With Blueberry in OA

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 the investigators do not know how this improvement happens. It may be that these foods reduce inflammation within the joint tissues. They 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.

Conditions

• Knee Osteoarthritis

Interventions

DIETARY_SUPPLEMENT

Blueberry powder supplement

The intervention in this study is 12 weeks of daily blueberry supplementation which is comprised of freeze-dried powdered whole blueberries i.e., blueberries with water removed.

DIETARY_SUPPLEMENT

Maltodextrin supplementation

The intervention in this study is 12 weeks of daily maltodextrin supplement used to mimic the carbohydrate composition of whole blueberries.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council

  collaborator OTHER

• Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust

  collaborator OTHER

• University of Exeter

  lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

QUADRUPLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

40 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2023-05-22

Primary Completion

2025-02-01

Completion

2027-09-01

Countries

• United Kingdom

Study Locations