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Study · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024Conflicts declared

Thiamin and osteoarthritis in mice and human joint fluid

Shen S, Liang Y, Zhao Y, et al · Free full text

What it found

Joint fluid from people with osteoarthritis had less thiamin than healthy controls, and giving thiamin to mice with knee arthritis reduced their symptoms.

The mouse work also showed thiamin lowered a chemical called CCL2 that drives joint damage.

What they found

Studies in people

Thiamin in joint fluid

In synovial fluid from osteoarthritis patients, vitamin B1 (thiamin) showed the second largest decrease among the changed metabolites compared with control subjects.

Animal and lab studies

Cartilage in mice

In mice with induced osteoarthritis, vitamin B1 significantly prevented loss of cartilage proteoglycan and reduced the number of cells making MMP13, an enzyme that breaks down cartilage.

Bone spurs in mice

Micro-CT scans showed that vitamin B1 significantly reduced the number of osteophytes (bone spurs) in the osteoarthritis mice.

CCL2 in macrophages

In lab tests on mouse macrophages, vitamin B1 markedly reduced production of CCL2, a factor that promotes osteoarthritis. In osteoarthritis mice, vitamin B1 significantly lowered CCL2 levels in the blood.

CCL2 and thiamin effects

When CCL2 was given along with vitamin B1 to osteoarthritis mice, it worsened cartilage loss, increased MMP13 cells and bone spurs, and made knee pain worse. It also cancelled out the differences between control and vitamin B1-treated mice.

What the authors conclude

“VB1 prevents the pathogenesis of OA by reducing the production of CCL2 by macrophages”
Shen S, Liang Y, Zhao Y, et al, 2024

Also in their conclusions

  • They conclude that vitamin B1 prevents the development of osteoarthritis by reducing the production of CCL2 by macrophages.
  • They say that daily supplementation of vitamin B1 may be a promising treatment strategy against osteoarthritis and could reduce the risk of disability and chronic pain in elderly people.
  • They suggest that increasing intake of vitamin B1-rich foods such as whole grains, beans, nuts, and fish is a potentially beneficial dietary approach for osteoarthritis patients.

How it was done

The authors say the metabolic changes in the joint environment of osteoarthritis patients and their possible effects on the disease have not been explored much. They wanted to find diet-based options for treating osteoarthritis.

They compared metabolites in synovial fluid from osteoarthritis patients and relatively healthy control subjects. They then used a mouse model of osteoarthritis caused by destabilization of the medial meniscus, giving some mice vitamin B1 and testing the effects on cartilage, osteophytes and pain. They also tested vitamin B1 on mouse macrophages stimulated with lipopolysaccharides in the lab.

What it can’t tell you

  • The main evidence comes from mice and lab tests on cells, so it cannot show whether thiamin prevents or treats osteoarthritis in people.
  • The human part only compared joint fluid from people who already had osteoarthritis with controls, so it cannot show whether low thiamin causes the disease.
  • The study did not test whether eating more thiamin-rich foods or taking supplements changes osteoarthritis symptoms in people.

The paper

Title
Dietary supplementation of vitamin B1 prevents the pathogenesis of osteoarthritis
Type
Study
Evidence
Studies in people · animals · lab
Summarised from
Full text
Cite
Shen S, Liang Y, Zhao Y, et al (2024). Dietary supplementation of vitamin B1 prevents the pathogenesis of osteoarthritis. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. doi:10.1073/pnas.2408160121Free full textPubMed 39024114DOI

Summary written 26 Sep 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error