It can be difficult comparing the different strengths and types of Glucosamine that are available on the market, so I wanted to take a bit of time to explain to you why you should trust Just Vitamins branded Glucosamine, and why not everything is as it seems with some of our less scrupulous competitors.

Glucosamine Sulphate (derived from shellfish exoskeleton) is unstable on its own, so is almost always sold bonded to a salt, which aids its stability. You will find it bonded to Sodium Chloride (tablet salt) where the compound is known as Glucosamine Sulphate NaCl, or more commonly - and preferably - bonded to Potassium Chloride, where the compound mixture is known as Glucosamine Sulphate 2KCL. This 2KCL, sodium-free compound is the form that Just Vitamins mainly use.

This 2KCL compound contains 75% of its weight as Glucosamine Sulphate, with the other 25% being made up of the Potassium Salt. This is often a source of confusion to consumers because some they would buy a product labelled as Glucosamine Sulphate 2KCL 1000mg, and think they were getting 1000mg of Glucosamine Sulphate, whereas in actual fact, 250mg (25%) of that weight would be inactive Potassium Salt, and only 750mg (75%) would be actual Glucosamine Sulphate.

The daily recommended level of Glucosamine is 1500mg of the ‘Glucosamine Sulphate’ form. As discussed above, this would mean you consuming 2000mg of the 2KCL compound.
Just Vitamins took the decision to label all of our Glucosamine under the Sulphate levels, as we believe this is the most honest way of displaying the strength - all the studies that have been done are on the levels of Glucosamine Sulphate, not the weight of the 2KCL compound. Further to this, in 2007, the UK Trading Standards Office recommended that we add the pure Glucosamine (free base) level onto our labels as well, hence the three different figures you will see on our site and packaging.

It is vitally important when shopping around that you are clear about the exact levels you are consuming. We have seen products from competitors labelled as Glucosamine Sulphate 500mg, but upon closer inspection we found that there is 500mg of 2KCL compound in there, which only actually provides 375mg of Sulphate.

Here at Just Vitamins, we label our Glucosamine supplements as per the levels of active Glucosamine Sulphate. We then also provide the information about the higher 2KCL compound weight, and also the free base (or pure) Glucosamine. We feel this is the most honest and open way of labelling our Glucosamine supplements.

If you need any further advice, then please contact the Just Vitamins Nutrition Advice line on 024 7669 5115 Monday - Thursday from 9am - 4pm.