Green-lipped mussel powder and knee osteoarthritis symptoms over 12 weeks
What it found
Taking 1,000 mg of green-lipped mussel powder daily for 12 weeks reduced knee pain and improved physical function in adults with mild-to-moderate osteoarthritis.
The main overall score improved only when researchers excluded people who dropped out.
What they found
Studies in people
Pain and daily function
People taking the mussel powder reported less knee pain and better ability to move around than those on the placebo after 12 weeks. These improvements showed up consistently across different ways of measuring pain and function.
Overall joint score
When looking only at the 93 people who finished the trial exactly as planned, the mussel group had a better overall joint score than the placebo group. When all 100 people were included, the difference was smaller and could have been due to chance.
Joint stiffness
Stiffness scores went down in both groups over the 12 weeks. There was no meaningful difference between the mussel powder group and the placebo group for stiffness.
Blood inflammation markers
Two common blood tests used to measure body-wide inflammation stayed about the same in both groups. The mussel powder did not change these specific blood markers compared to the placebo.
Side effects
Reported problems happened in 5 out of 50 people taking the mussel powder and 8 out of 50 taking the placebo. Two serious events, including a thyroid cancer diagnosis, happened only in the placebo group and were unrelated to the supplement.
What the authors conclude
- They say that taking 1,000 mg of green-lipped mussel powder daily for 12 weeks was linked to less knee pain and better physical function in adults with mild-to-moderate osteoarthritis.
- They note the supplement was well tolerated by participants.
- They suggest it could be a useful addition to other non-drug approaches for managing knee osteoarthritis symptoms, but call for larger and longer studies.
How it was done
Knee osteoarthritis causes pain and limits movement, and long-term use of common pain medicines can lead to side effects. Earlier lab and animal work suggested green-lipped mussel might calm inflammation, so the authors wanted to test it in people.
The researchers randomly assigned 100 adults aged 40 to 75 with mild-to-moderate knee osteoarthritis to take either 1,000 mg of green-lipped mussel powder or a placebo each day. They measured pain, stiffness, physical function, and blood markers of inflammation at the start, at 6 weeks, and at 12 weeks.
What it can’t tell you
- This trial lasted only 12 weeks, so it cannot show what happens if someone takes the powder for years.
- It also only included people with mild-to-moderate knee wear, so the results may not apply to severe cases.
- Because the study relied on questionnaires about pain rather than joint scans, it cannot tell us whether the mussel powder actually slowed damage to the cartilage.
Who paid
- Conflicts
- Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: This clinical trial was approved by the Institutional Review Board of Pusan National University Korean Medicine Hospital (approval number: PNUKHIRB 2023-04-001). The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and the Korean Good Clinical Practice (KGCP) guidelines. Written informed consent was obtained from all participants prior to enrollment. Participant enrollment began on October 31, 2023, and the final study visit was completed on June 27, 2024. Consent for publication: Not applicable. This manuscript does not contain any individual person’s identifiable data. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.
- Authors work at
- Pusan National University, Republic of Korea; Se-Myung University, Republic of Korea
The paper
- Title
- Efficacy and safety of green-lipped mussel powder supplementation in adults with knee osteoarthritis: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial
- Type
- Randomised controlled trial
- Evidence
- Studies in people
- Summarised from
- Full text
- Cite
- Kim HT, Shin BJ, Lee YW, et al (2026). Efficacy and safety of green-lipped mussel powder supplementation in adults with knee osteoarthritis: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. BMC complementary medicine and therapies. doi:10.1186/s12906-026-05465-5Free full textPubMed 42464085DOI
Summary written 30 Sep 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error