Ireland may require warning label for high dose glucosamine
supplements in dosages of 1500mg or more to warn consumers that the
safety intake above this level has not been assessed.
The requirements follow the licensing of a medicinal product for the treatment of osteoarthritis at a maximum daily dosage of 1500mg. This alerted the Irish Medicines Board to a lack of safety data for amounts above this level.
It is now reviewing other, non-licensed glucosamine products, available in this dosage, although Phil Costigan of the supplement trade body Irish Health Trade Association said few of its members offered such products.
In a letter to the association, Dr J. Morris, senior scientific officer of the IMB, said: "Since the Irish Medicines Board had data to support the safety of daily doses of glucosamine at levels of 1500 mg but not necessarily above this level, the IMB is therefore anxious to restrict the marketing of such products while not attempting to interfere with the ready availability of other acceptable sources of glucosamine."
The approach is rather more lenient than many other member states, some of which have moved in the last year to make glucosamine a medicine rather than supplement.
