A daily fiber supplement reduced knee arthritis pain and improved strength - ScienceDaily

What the report says

ScienceDaily, citing materials from the University of Nottingham, reported that a daily prebiotic fiber supplement was associated with reduced knee osteoarthritis pain in a six-week randomized clinical trial. The study, published in Nutrients and led by University of Nottingham researchers, tested inulin, a fiber found naturally in foods such as chicory root and Jerusalem artichokes, among 117 adults with knee osteoarthritis.

Participants were assigned to one of four groups: inulin alone, digitally supported physiotherapy exercise alone, both interventions, or placebo. According to the report, both inulin and physiotherapy independently reduced knee pain. The inulin group also showed improvements in grip strength and reduced pain sensitivity, measures researchers said may reflect how the nervous system processes pain signals.

The researchers reported biological changes that may help explain the findings. Participants taking inulin had higher levels of butyrate, a short-chain fatty acid produced when beneficial gut bacteria ferment fiber, and higher levels of GLP-1, a gut hormone linked in the report to pain regulation and muscle health. The authors described the results as evidence worth further investigation into a possible gut-muscle-pain connection.

The trial also found fewer dropouts among participants taking the supplement: 3.6% left the inulin group, compared with 21% in the physiotherapy group, suggesting the supplement may have been easier to maintain during the study period. The findings are preliminary and do not establish inulin as a replacement for standard care, but they point to gut health and diet as possible areas for future osteoarthritis pain-management research.