Glucosamine and medications.
Glucosamine is in the Distil supplement database, evidence Grade B. The page below lists every medication we have explicitly assessed it against.
Glucosamine is an amino sugar found in cartilage, usually paired with chondroitin sulfate and taken for the joint pain of moderate osteoarthritis. The standard dose is glucosamine sulfate 1,500mg with chondroitin sulfate 1,200mg, and the form matters: the sulfate salt is the one with trial evidence, not the HCl version. The evidence is Grade B for pain relief in moderate-to-severe OA, weaker in mild OA, and Grade C for any actual preservation of cartilage. The large GAIT trial showed mixed results overall, which is why this sits in the honest middle rather than the headline tier. On interactions, the main thing to know is the shellfish angle: most glucosamine is shellfish-derived, so anyone with that allergy should use the corn-fermentation form instead. There is also a prescription interaction to know: glucosamine may push the effect of warfarin or acenocoumarol higher and raise your INR, and this tends to show up more as the dose goes up, so flag it to whoever manages your anticoagulation rather than starting it quietly. It tends to cause mild stomach upset, so take it with food. A practical note: give it a steady eight to twelve weeks before judging whether it helps your joints.
Below are the 2 documented pairs we have explicitly assessed for Glucosamine: 2 amber. The pairs cluster around 1 mechanism: Additive anticoagulation. Every call is cited to either a clinical reference (PMID) or the British National Formulary. Anything not listed here is either still to be assessed or beyond our database scope. The checker beneath surfaces assessments by medication, and the missing-item form at the bottom of the page routes any uncatalogued medication into our next curation pass.
Documented interactions
Last reviewed 14 June 2026. Each interaction below lists the evidence its assessment drew on: some rest on studies of the exact pair, others on mechanism evidence, where a citation may support one part of the reasoning rather than the exact combination. The evidence line on each entry says which.
Additive anticoagulation
Amber Does interact with Acenocoumarol?
Glucosamine (often with chondroitin) has been reported to increase the blood-thinning effect of acenocoumarol and raise the INR, sometimes enough to cause bleeding. If you take acenocoumarol, it is best to avoid glucosamine or only use it with your anticoagulant clinic's knowledge and extra INR checks.
Evidence: Limited human data, based on case reports and a known mechanism.
Reviewer-flagged: awaiting clinical-reviewer sign-off.
Amber Does interact with Warfarin sodium?
Glucosamine can push warfarin's blood-thinning effect higher, raising your INR and your bleeding risk. This shows up more when the glucosamine dose goes up. If you take warfarin, tell your anticoagulation clinic before starting glucosamine and ask for an INR check within a couple of weeks, especially if you change the dose.
Evidence: Supported by human study data.
What this list does not say. Pairs not flagged here are not implicitly safe. They are either not yet in our database, or fall outside our inclusion scope. Use the checker below to surface any medication, and submit a missing item if you take something we have not catalogued.
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How we grade severity, choose what's in scope, and what we exclude.
Every call on this page is reasoned. We publish the full rubric for severity tiers, the medication inclusion logic, the evidence grades we accept, and what we deliberately leave out. About three thousand words. Worth reading once if you use this tool more than occasionally.
Read the full methodologyA full supplement review, built around you, not a generic stack.
The free checker answers one interaction question at a time. A Distil report reviews the bigger picture: your goals, diet, medications, current supplements and any blood results you provide, then shows what appears worth keeping, changing, adding or leaving out.
- what your diet already covers, so you are not adding a capsule for something food is already handling
- which evidence-graded compounds are worth considering for your goals, and which were considered but left out
- what to keep, change or stop from what you already take, plus the order to introduce anything new
- how your medications and complete supplement stack fit together, with daily timing and a clear point for reassessment
The interaction check is one section of the full report. You also get the reasoning behind each recommendation and the evidence references used.
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