Krill oil do little to dull knee pain in osteoarthritis

Supplementation with krill oil does not appear to produce significant improvements in knee pain in individuals with knee osteoarthritis, as shown in a study.

A total of 262 individuals with clinical knee osteoarthritis, significant knee pain, and effusion-synovitis on magnetic resonance imaging were enrolled in the study. These participants were randomly assigned to receive 2 g of krill oil (n=130) or matching placebo (n=132), administered once a day for 24 weeks.

The primary outcome was change in knee pain, which was evaluated using a visual analogue scale (VAS; range, 0‒100, with 0 indicating least pain; minimum clinically important improvement=15).

At 24 weeks, knee pain did not significantly differ between the krill oil group and the placebo group (mean change in VAS score, −19.9 vs −20.2; mean difference, −0.3, 95 percent confidence interval, −6.9 to 6.4).

Adverse events (AEs) were documented in 51 percent of the participants who received krill oil and in 54 percent of those who received placebo. The most common AEs were musculoskeletal and connective tissue disorders—which occurred 32 times in the krill oil group and 42 times in the placebo group—including knee pain, lower extremity pain, and hip pain.

The present data do not support the use of krill oil for alleviating knee pain in people with knee osteoarthritis, according to the researchers.