 Glucosamine sulfate not only improves the symptoms of osteoarthritis of the   knee in postmenopausal women, but actually alters the course of disease, according   to two 3-year studies. The studies are the first to demonstrate that a pharmacologic   intervention has both a disease-modifying and symptom-modifying effect specifically   in postmenopausal, osteoarthritic women. 

Researchers included 319 postmenopausal women in the two studies. After 3 years, they found that the women given glucosamine sulfate showed no joint space narrowing, while the women given placebo demonstrated a narrowing of 20.33 mm. Using the WOMAC index, women given glucosamine demonstrated improvement (214.1%), while women given placebo demonstrated a trend for worsening (5.4%). 

 Bruyere O, Pavelka K, Rovati LC, et al. Glucosamine sulfate   reduces osteoarthritis progression in postmenopausal women with knee osteoarthritis:   evidence from two 3-year studies. 