SAMe (S-adenosyl methionine) possesses anti-inflammatory, pain-relieving, and tissue-healing properties that may help protect the health of joints,^1,2 though the primary way in which SAMe reduces osteoarthritis symptoms is not known. A very large, though uncontrolled, trial (meaning that there was no comparison with placebo) demonstrated “very good” or “good” clinical effect of SAMe in 71% of over 20,000 osteoarthritis sufferers.³ In addition to this preliminary research, many double-blind trials have shown that SAMe reduces pain, stiffness, and swelling better than placebo and equal to drugs such as ibuprofen and naproxen in people with osteoarthritis.^{4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11} These double-blind trials all used 1,200 mg of SAMe per day.

Lower amounts of oral SAMe have also produced reductions in the severity of osteoarthritis symptoms in preliminary clinical trials. A two-year, uncontrolled trial showed significant improvement of symptoms after two weeks at 600 mg SAMe daily, followed by 400 mg daily thereafter.¹² This amount was also used in a double-blind trial, but participants first received five days of intravenous SAMe.¹³ A review of the clinical trials on SAMe concluded that its efficacy against osteoarthritis was similar to that of conventional drugs but that patients tolerated it better.¹⁴