Glucosamine is usually prepared from seashells or can be synthesized in the laboratory. Gold shells indicate that glucosamine hydrochloride is one of the various forms of glucosamine. Glucosamine hydrochloride is used to treat osteoarthritis, knee pain and glaucoma. However, no one really knows whether glucosamine can really cure the above-mentioned diseases. At present, there have been related preliminary studies, and more people need to complete a large number of in-depth studies.

The instructions of glucosamine hydrochloride products should be carefully read before use, because there are many different forms of glucosamine used in dietary supplements (health products). These products may contain glucosamine sulfate, glucosamine hydrochloride and acetylglucosamine. These different chemicals have similar properties. However, when they are taken as dietary supplements, they will not play the same role. Much of the scientific research on glucosamine is done with glucosamine sulfate. See the chapter on glucosamine hydrochloride for details. This chapter introduces glucosamine hydrochloride. Dietary supplements containing glucosamine usually have additives, which are usually chondroitin sulfate (glycosaminoglycan), shark cartilage products. Some people think that taking mixed ingredient products is more effective than taking single ingredient products. So far, researchers have not found any evidence that products with additional ingredients are superior to products with single ingredients. There are many variables in products containing glucosamine and glucosamine plus chondroitin sulfate. Some products do not contain their promised ingredients. The difference in content can be as high as 25% - 115%. Some products labeled as glucosamine hydrochloride in the United States are actually glucosamine hydrochloride with other sulfates. These products will probably have different effects from glucosamine sulfate.