A natural seaweed derived mineral supplement (Aquamin F) for knee osteoarthritis: A randomised, placebo controlled pilot study
Bibliographic record
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Osteoarthritis (OA) is a slowly destructive process that may be influenced by a nutritional mineral balance in the body. METHODS: This small, double blind, placebo controlled pilot study investigated the impact of treatment with a natural multi-mineral supplement from seaweed (Aquamin) on 6 minute walking distance (6 MWD), range of motion (ROM), and pain and joint mobility measured by the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities (WOMAC) Osteoarthritis Index in subjects with moderate to severe OA of the knee during gradual withdrawal of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) that were being used daily for pain management. Subjects (n = 29) with moderate to severe OA of the knee were randomised to receive either Aquamin (2400 mg/d) or Placebo for up to 12 weeks. RESULTS: Of the 29 subjects initially randomized, only 22 subjects proceeded to treatment due to 7 subjects not meeting study selection criteria at baseline. Fourteen subjects completed the study and an ITT analysis (n = 22) of the data showed no significant differences in WOMAC scores however, the data did reveal significant improvements in passive and active extension ROM (0.83 degrees +/- 1.54 vs. -1.54 degrees +/- 2.43; difference, 5.2 degrees +/- 2.2, p = 0.028) and 6 MWD (150 +/- 48 ft vs. 12.5 +/- 31.5 ft; difference, 136 +/- 57 ft, p = 0.03) in the Aquamin group compared to the placebo group; respectively, following a 50% reduction in NSAID use. The treatments were well tolerated and the adverse event profiles were not significantly different between the groups. CONCLUSION: This small preliminary study suggests Aquamin may increase range of motion and walking distances in subjects with OA of the knee and may allow partial withdrawal of NSAIDs over 12 weeks of treatment. Additional research is needed to confirm these preliminary observations. TRIAL REGISTRATION: NCT00755482.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.002 | 0.002 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.003 | 0.001 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.001 | 0.002 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Open science | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.002 | 0.002 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.007 | 0.001 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".