Oral intake of Streptococcus thermophilus improves knee osteoarthritis degeneration: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical study

Lyu JL, Wang TM, Chen YH, Chang ST, Wu MS, Lin YH, Lin YH, Kuan CM · Heliyon

Serum CTX-II, a cartilage type II collagen breakdown marker, and CRP both fell in the probiotic group over 12 weeks. The authors state plainly that the improvement was indistinct against placebo and attribute that to uneven Kellgren-Lawrence distribution between groups, the short period and the small sample.

Population

Adults with knee osteoarthritis, 12 weeks

Intervention

TCI633, a Streptococcus thermophilus strain isolated from human breast milk that produces hyaluronate in the gut

Comparator

Placebo

Limitations

Preliminary by its own description, n=80 over 12 weeks, with the between-group comparison not clearly favouring the probiotic. Six of eight authors are employed by TCI Co., which owns the strain.