"A drug used outside the U.S. to treat osteoporosis https may not only lessen the everyday pain associated with knee https osteoarthritis https but may even slow down the progression of osteoarthritis https researchers say. The drug is called strontium ranelate. In a threeyear study of more than  people with knee osteoarthritis httpsarthritis.webmd.comstayingactivearthritisdefault.htmvidvdhzim digital Xrays revealed substantially less loss of cartilage in the joint space in those who took strontium ranelate every day compared with people who took a placebo https daily. In people with osteoarthritis https the cartilage in a joint wears away in some areas. The function of cartilage is to reduce friction in the joints and serve as a shock absorber. The wearing away of cartilage leads to pain and other symptoms. Nearly one in  people have evidence of knee https osteoarthritis on an Xray. And nearly  of women and  of men age  and older have joint pain https stiffness and other symptoms of knee osteoarthritis according to a large  study. Study head JeanYves Reginster MD PhD presented the findings today at the American College of Rheumatology ACR Annual Meeting in Washington D.C. He is president and chair of the department of public health sciences at the University of Lige in Belgium. Strontium is a trace element found in seawater and soil. Its main dietary sources are  Seafood  Whole milk  Wheat bran  Meat  Poultry  Root vegetables In several European countries and Australia a form of strontium called Protelos strontium ranelate is available as a prescription drug for osteoporosis treatment https_treatment_care. Protelos is not approved in the U.S. But forms of the element such as strontium citrate are widely available as nutritional supplements https_AssetsscopemapsWebMDConsumerPagesVitaminsandSupplementsLifestyleGuide_ecedpage_VitaminsandSupplementsLifestyleGuide_eced.xml in supermarkets health food stores and online. But strontium supplements https cant just be substituted for Protelos says ACR spokesman Stanley Cohen MD a rheumatologist https at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas. They would have to be tested in another study. Strontium in Perspective Cohen notes that there are a variety of arthritis https medications https called diseasemodifying antirheumatic drugs DMARDs that work by curbing the underlying processes that cause certain forms of inflammatory arthritis https including rheumatoid arthritis https ankylosing spondylitis https and psoriatic arthritis https But finding a drug that can actually delay the progression of knee osteoarthritis is difficult he says. Several large trials of drugs that looked promising in early research failed to pan out. That makes this study potentially very exciting he says. But until the research has been reviewed by other doctors and published in a medical journal it is too soon to draw firm conclusions Cohen says. With no approved treatment to delay the progression of the disease current osteoarthritis treatments https focus on improving disease symptoms through a combination of medication physical therapy https and other nonpharmaceutical therapy. Strontium vs. Placebo The study involved  people with knee osteoarthritis whose average age was . They were given a  or gram dose of strontium or placebo daily. The people who took either dose of strontium had less cartilage loss compared to the placebo group. Both doses worked at a level that could significantly lower their risk of surgery within five years Reginster says. What we saw in this study is that  to  fewer patients taking strontium reached this surgery threshold compared with placebo he says. As for symptoms people taking the gram dose scored substantially higher than either of the other groups on pain related to everyday activities. Because the drug can raise the risk for deep vein thrombosis https when given in osteoporosis https patients with a history of DVT https were excluded from the study. As always people should talk to their doctors before taking a supplement to prevent or treat any disorder Cohen stresses. Several researchers reported financial ties to drug companies including Servier Laboratories a manufacturer of strontium ranelate.  These findings were presented at a medical conference. They should be considered preliminary as they have not yet undergone the peer review process in which outside experts scrutinize the data prior to publication in a medical journal."