Abstract
A prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study was designed with 40 healthy individuals with joint discomfort. The effect of oral supplementation with a natural product containing hyaluronic acid included in a yoghurt matrix was evaluated in terms of functional and quality-of-life parameters. An isokinetic dynamometer was used to measure maximum muscle strength, total work and mean power. Participants were divided into 2 groups (n = 20) and ate yoghurt that was either supplemented or not supplemented with the hyaluronic acid product daily for a period of 90 days. The increase in the maximum peak torque of the knee extensors compared to baseline values was 7.6 ± 7.6 Nm for the supplemented yoghurt group and 2.5 ± 4.7 Nm for the control group at 180°/s (P = 0.0582), and 6.5 ± 5.8 Nm for the supplemented yoghurt group and −1.0 ± 7.1 Nm for the control group at 240°/s (P < 0.05). The same pattern of response was observed in total work and in mean power (P < 0.05). Differences were less pronounced in the knee flexors. No differences were detected in the Lequesne score and SF-36 survey except for the social functioning subscale at 1 month follow-up. This prospective placebo-controlled nutritional study confirmed that 3 months of oral administration of a natural product containing HA (Mobilee™) in healthy individuals with joint discomfort of the knee provides improvements in muscle strength.