Consuming glucosamine and chondroitin may be overall more favorable than Celebrex for treating arthritis.
Researchers compared a placebo treatment to glucosamine, glucosamine combined with chondroitin, and Celebrex. All three of the treatment groups did show a decrease in pain, but only the glucosamine + chondroitin group showed reduction in the narrowing of the joint space. Additionally, unlike the glucosamine groups, the Celebrex group showed significant gastrointestinal distress and other adverse side effects.
Conclusions
Based off of this study, there seems little reason to resort to drugs with unfavorable effects, such as Celebrex, when superior alternatives exist. What is interesting, however, is that only the glucosamine+chondroitin was enough to see results, whereas some studies have found that glucosamine+chondroitin is no better than glucosamine alone. One possible explanation is that the addition of chondroitin is valuable for glucosamine hydrochloride, but not for glucosamine sulfate. Future research that explores this distinction would be valuable.
References