Is Osteo Bi-Flex Good Enough For Arthritis? My Honest Review

It’s time to review Osteo Bi-Flex, a product that you surely heard about. In fact, that’s the reason why I decided to check it out: its popularity. But just because it’s popular doesn’t mean it’s really good.

I have a long history with this supplement and I wasn’t too delighted with it. 

So is Osteo Bi-Flex good enough for arthritis? Is it as effective as it seems? Considering what it promises, I can’t say it is. But let me tell you more about it below.

Note: This review is based exclusively on my experience with this supplement, so it won’t necessarily agree with other reviews. I am not praising/criticizing the product or the company, I am simply saying how it worked for me

 

So Let’s Get To The Review

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Full Name: Osteo Bi-Flex Triple Strength

Quantity : 120 tablets

Best Actual Price: $19.69

Where I Bought It From: Ebay

Designed For: Basically osteoarthritis and everything related to cartilage problems. It wouldn’t help the pain caused by inflammation too much, because its ingredients are meant for rebuilding cartilages.

My Rating: 2.00/10.00

Worth Buying?: Definitely not. It has a weak forms of glucosamine and some really large pills. They are really hard to swallow, plus that they taste terribly so you can’t take them as powder.

But most importantly, it didn’t help me too much. I was struggling more with nausea during the whole time while I was taking them. So I don’t know if it’s just me reacting like that, but I didn’t get any major pain relief from this supplement. That’s why I wouldn’t buy it again, because it’s not as good as it seems.

 

What I Liked About It

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• The ingredients look good at first sight. There’s both classic substances and brand ingredients
• It costs very little for the quantity of pills it contains
• You can find lots of authentic reviews about it (though many are negative)

 

What I Didn’t Like About It

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• It uses the bad form of glucosamine (HCl), which didn’t have any effect in clinical trials. So the high dose is for no reason
• The pills are absolutely huge and very heavy. They always gave me chest pain no matter how much water I drank
• They also taste really bad (like chalk, in my opinion)
• It made me really nauseous every time I was taking it
• It didn’t relieve my pain considerably, even though it doesn’t have bad ingredients

 

 

 

 

The Ingredients – Classic But Good

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As usual, the first thing I checked out on this supplement were its ingredients. My conclusion was that it doesn’t have anything special inside. 

There is a brand ingredient of the company, but other than that, I haven’t seen anything new. So let’s take each ingredient by turn:

– Glucosamine HCl (1500 mg) – this is the most important ingredient for cartilage problems, as it rebuilds them and prevents future tear up.

At first sight, the dose looks excellent. But if you take a closer look, you will see it’s not. This supplement used the weak form of glucosamine, hydrochloride. Studies revealed that this substance doesn’t bring any improvement to damaged cartilages, unlike the sulfate form. 

– Joint Shield (100 mg) – is a personal ingredient of the brand based on Boswellia extract. According to them, it “protects against compounds that negatively affect joint health”.

I couldn’t find much about it on Google, but I think it’s another definition of antioxidants. And Boswellia is an antioxidant (besides being an anti-inflammatory). So I don’t think this ingredient is extremely important

– Chondroitin/MSM Complex (1.103 mg) – these 2 ingredients are really good and their dose is much higher than usual. But I wished to know the exact dose for each, not for their combination. 

– Vitamin C (60 mg) – it’s a natural antioxidant, so it helps with joint damage caused by aging. Though at this dose, I’m not sure how much it can help

There are also manganese and sodium, but they have really low doses so I don’t think they’re worth mentioning. From what I know, they’re not extremely effective for joint problems.

 

 

Problem #1 – Glucosamine HCl 

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Just like I said before, that is a huge downside of this supplement. But unfortunately, most people aren’t aware of it. 

This product uses the weaker form of glucosamine. If you take a look on the label, you will notice “glucosamine HCl” – that’s what I’m talking about. Instead, the stronger form is the sulfate.

There is a big difference between glucosamine sulfate and hydrochloride. The first one has a lot of clinical trials behind and it’s considered the best ingredient for cartilages.

So if you ever heard about how good glucosamine is, it’s about the sulfate form.

On the other hand, glucosamine HCl is much cheaper and it doesn’t have any studies behind. In fact, there were some studies conducted on it, but the results weren’t positive. It didn’t bring any improvement for the cartilages, according to researchers. 

So that’s the #1 reason why this supplement isn’t as good as it seems. 

Even if the dose of glucosamine is really good (much better than in most supplements), the fact that there’s the HCl form totally cancels this advantage. In fact, I would have preferred to see only 1000 mg of glucosamine sulfate instead. That would have solved things out.

 

 

 

Problem #2 – Hard To Swallow Pills

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I’ve tried lots of different supplements throughout the last 15 years of my life, so I’m pretty used to different shapes and tastes. But these pills were absolutely terrible. I don’t think I’ve seen any similar ones before, or I don’t know.

So let me explain you why I’m saying this.

First of all, they are really huge. Compared to the average, they are much thicker and heavier.

Most joint pain supplements are gelatin capsules with powder inside. That powder is actually the ingredients, as the gelatin is an inactive substance. Well, Osteo Bi-Flex’s pills aren’t capsules, but tablets.

But that doesn’t explain why they are so large. I’ve taken lots of tablets before and I never had any problems swallowing them. However, these ones are really hard to swallow, because they are much thicker. 

So I don’t really know what they put inside, but I don’t like it at all.

 

 

Problem #3 – Terrible Taste

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I already said that I have a lot of experience with supplements. So nothing really seems uncommon to me…except the taste of these pills.

It’s pretty hard to describe it, because I haven’t tasted anything like that before. I think it feels pretty similar to chalk, even though I never eat any chalk. But that’s how I imagine it should taste like. Or at least I can’t find another comparison term.

The taste is absolutely disgusting and it stays in my mouth even after I swallow the pill.

At first, I tried to crush them because I couldn’t swallow them whole. They were too big, so I would always get some chest pain. I was drinking a lot of water, but the pain still lasted for a few minutes. They were simply too thick.

So that was when I thought about crushing them and taking the powder with the spoon.

Bad idea! The taste was so bad that I couldn’t even swallow one small tablespoon, and it wasn’t even full. I tried taking them with chocolate, but surprisingly, I was still feeling that horrible taste.

So for me, these pills were absolutely impossible.

 

 

What I Bought It For

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Before I tell you how this product work, let me tell you a bit about my background.

I had RA and a secondary OA in my knees. It started with my right knee, but then my left one also started losing cartilage. Fortunately, I discovered it in time so I had enough cartilage left in both of them.

However, that wasn’t forever. So I was looking for a good supplement that would rebuild my cartilages. And that’s why I bought Osteo Bi-Flex.

My OA pain wasn’t that bad, but my knees were in a very bad shape. I had lost most of my flexibility, so moving around was really hard. Even standing was pretty difficult, as I couldn’t stand for a long time. So I was hoping this product would improve my flexibility and decrease my pain.

Osteo Bi-Flex is a supplement designed for cartilage problems and osteoarthritis. It doesn’t say that anywhere, but you can draw the conclusion after the ingredients. So it seemed like the perfect choice, considering it was also very popular.

 

 

The First Weeks – Nausea

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Week 1: I was mostly struggling to find a way to get these pills inside my body. In the first day, I couldn’t really swallow them so I tried to crush one. I told you above what happened, so I got back to swallowing them full.

It was terrible, but if I still bought one bottle, what else could I do?

The label promised pain relief in one week, but that wasn’t my case at all.

In the first week, I didn’t feel any improvement, other than nausea. I thought it was because of their bad taste, so I was sure it was just a temporary reaction of my body. But it wasn’t really so…

Week 2: I kept feeling very nauseous after taking the morning pill, even though I was taking it after eating.

I was also drinking a lot of water, but I still felt some chest pain. That was because of its extra size, so I didn’t worry too much. 

But the nausea was still there. I would even vomit sometimes, but it didn’t happen every day (maybe 2 times per week). Considering I was totally fine before, I was sure it was because of this supplement.

Regarding my knees, they were feeling a bit better, but only in terms of pain. I still couldn’t stand or walk alone.

 

 

One Month Conclusions – The Same Problem

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The bottle I bought had 120 tablets, which was the dose for 2 months. However, I couldn’t stand it anymore and I gave up the pills after 4 weeks.

After the second week, my nausea continued. I couldn’t feel any significant change in my knees, but I did feel the nausea every day. 

At one point, I even stopped taking the pills one day. I was curious what would happen. Believe it or not, I didn’t feel bad anymore in that day. There was no nausea, no vomiting and my pain wasn’t even worse. 

I then tried to take them again, and obviously, the nausea returned. So after about 4 weeks, I gave them up completely, even if I had more than half bottle left.

That happened a few years back, because this supplement has been around for a long time. But I never thought about buying it again ever since. And I’m probably not going to do it ever, because it made me feel much worse than before.

Ironically, I remember that I didn’t care as much about the pain, because I was feeling like I would vomit all the time. So if you want to try that approach, maybe this supplement will help you as much as it did me. 

 

 

 

 

Cheap, But Still Not Worth It

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A few years ago, when I bought this supplement, it cost me about $15. I saw it got a bit more expensive lately, but it has the very same ingredients and the same label. So there’s no major change.

However, it has a really good price at first sight, considering the quantity.

I can’t criticize the price, because it’s really affordable, compared to the average. But I really have to criticize the supplement, because it’s definitely not worth those $15.

It contains a weak form of glucosamine, so all you’re getting besides is a chondroitin & MSM combination and a brand ingredient. They’re not bad stuff by any means, but they’re not going to do much. I’m the best example for that.

And I can’t say for sure, but my nausea might have been from their original ingredient. I tried MSM and chondroitin before and I never had any bad reaction, so I don’t know.

But other than that, I wouldn’t pay $15 for 3 main ingredients and another additional substances. And I think you can spend your money wiser too.

 

 

My Final Verdict – Is It Worth Buying?

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Short Answer: Not really. It’s not a scam, but it brought me more problems than benefits. It may be cheap, but it’s not as quality as I thought.

That’s why I never bought it again, after so many years. Its popularity is increasing, but I’m pretty sure it’s not as good as it seems. In my case, it was far from that. 

The pills are really big and impossible to swallow, but you still can’t take the crushed because they taste horribly. While I was struggling to follow the treatment, I got much more nausea than pain relief. There’s no surprise, considering they’re not even using the right form of glucosamine.

So am I going to buy this supplement ever again? Definitely not.

Would I recommend it? Not really, because there are so many alternatives that work that it’s not even worth wasting your time with this one. That’s what I think. But obviously, you can decide for yourself and choose whatever suits you best.