Beneficial effects of natural eggshell membrane versus placebo in exercise-induced joint pain, stiffness, and cartilage turnover in healthy, postmenopausal women

Ruff KJ, Morrison D, Duncan SA, et al. · Clinical Interventions in Aging

The trial met its primary endpoint: the urinary cartilage-turnover marker CTX-II rose less on NEM than on placebo after one week of the exercise regimen (absolute treatment effect -17.2%, p=0.002) and after two weeks (-9.9%, p=0.042). Among the secondary endpoints, immediate pain did not separate from placebo (p=0.209), while 12-hour recovery pain did (p=0.016) and both immediate (p=0.042) and 12-hour recovery stiffness (p=0.014) separated.

Population

Healthy postmenopausal women performing a standardized exercise regimen

Intervention

NEM 500 mg once daily for 2 weeks alongside alternate-day exercise

Comparator

Placebo

Limitations

Manufacturer-sponsored with company author; healthy (non-OA) population; 2-week duration; CTX-II is a surrogate marker. What was measured is the exercise-induced rise in that marker, not a resting level, and the endpoints were analysed per-protocol — though no subject dropped out, so the population is the whole randomised sample.