My Solgar No. 7 Joint Support & Comfort Review – Is It That Good?

by Heather Pharm.D. ·

It’s time for my Solgar 7 Joint Support & Comfort review, a product that has a lot of positive reviews online. According to its label, it’s a “next generation” supplement because it doesn’t contain the classic glucosamine.

But is this claim real? I mean, it does have a next generation ingredients, but are the really effective? Can they relieve the pain as well as the old glucosamine does?

I have a long history with glucosamine supplements and I’ve had great results with some of them. So I was very curious to try the different approach of Solgar’s supplement. The result? Don’t skip the following lines.

Note: This review is based only on my experience with this product, so it may or may not agree with other reviews you find. 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

Full Name: No. 7 Joint Support from Solgar

Quantity : 30 tablets

Best Actual Price: $18.03

Where I Bought It From: Ebay

Designed For: The label and the ingredients don’t make it very clear. It’s compared to glucosamine supplements, so I would say it’s made for OA and cartilage problems.

But it also has a lot of anti-inflammatory herbs, so it could work for inflammation and RA too. It’s one of the few supplements that I have no idea what’s it good for before trying it

My Rating: 6.80 out of 10

Worth Buying?: I wouldn’t recommend it for any chronic condition like arthritis or permanent joint pain, because I believe it’s a bit too weak. But it might work if you have a temporary inflammation or minor joint pain. So I can’t tell for sure because in my case it wasn’t very effective

What I Liked About It

Unique combination of ingredients, which I’ve never seen together before
It contains several brand ingredients that are specially designed for joint problems
Really affordable
You only have to take one pill per day
I believe it works for a minor joint pain

What I Didn’t Like About It

It doesn’t work on the long term. It relieved my pain in the first weeks but then it wasn’t effective anymore, even after taking several days break
Some of the ingredients have really low doses compared to other products (turmeric, ginger, Cayenne pepper)
I’m not sure if it’s made for inflammation or for cartilage problems. It contains ingredients from both sides, but their doses are not high enough for any condition
Overall, it was too weak for my chronic pain. That’s why I don’t recommend it for any form of arthritis or permanent pain, only for a temporary joint pain

My Experience With This Supplement

My Background: I had an old RA that was bothering me constantly, especially in my hands and elbows. The pain was really bad in certain days and sometimes it would get just bad. Besides, I have developed a secondary osteoarthritis in my knees, which was worse in the right one.

So no matter what this supplement was good for, I have both forms of arthritis and was ready to get some relief from it.

Week 1: The great thing about this supplement was that I only had to take one pill per day. I was taking it in the morning after eating, with a lot of water (it contains willow bark, which is derived from aspirin and can cause stomach problems).

In the first week, I didn’t get much improvement so there’s nothing I can talk about.

Week 2: In the second week, things started to get a bit better with my arms. I felt like the pain wasn’t that intense anymore, I mean that my flare-ups seemed to get a bit more rare. I wasn’t sure if it was just the placebo effect or not, but I continued to take one pill in the morning. However, I didn’t notice any improvement in my knees.

Week 3: My hand pain was really decreasing, it wasn’t just my imagination. I could say it went from a 7 to about a 5, which was really great.

These pills also helped with my morning stiffness, which wasn’t as intense as before. Even when I woke up, I could move my hands partially (in the past I couldn’t move them at all).

Week 4: It seemed like these pills were only decreasing my RA pain, because the condition of my knees was pretty much the same. They were still painful and I couldn’t stand for long, because of them.

On the other hand, the pain from my hands was getting better with everyday.

The Next Month

Week 5: As this supplement turned out to be helpful, I ordered another bottle just before the first one ran out. My pain was still better in the first day, but I really can’t explain what happened next.

Week 6: In the following days, my hand pain started getting back gradually. I was still taking the same pills once a day but it was like their potency was going away. They simply stopped helping me after a while.

The best thing I could do was to take a break, in my opinion. I stopped the pills for 2 days and then restarted taking them, but without much success. They did decrease some of my pain, but not as well as the first time.

Afterwards: I waited another week and followed the same scheme: took a break and the restarted taking them. But things were pretty similar this time too. The pills improved my hand pain but just slightly. It wasn’t even far from the initial 7, so it was definitely not working anymore.

That was extremely weird, to be honest.

I had read some negative reviews too, but I never found anything similar to my situation. The pills either worked or they didn’t, it wasn’t like in my case.

1. Ingredients (6.5 out of 10)

I didn’t really know what to think about Solgar’s ingredient list when I first saw it. It was pretty different from the classic joint supplements. So different that I had no idea what to expect from it…

But let me analyze them by turn.

– Vitamin C (100 mg) – it’s a great antioxidant that protects the joints against damaging factors. I’ve seen this vitamin in other supplements, but I never cared much about it because I didn’t think it was important. But it seems that it is. When it comes to dose, these 100 mg are more than the daily value, so things are great

– 5-Loxin® Advanced (100 mg) – this is a brand ingredient and from what I read, it’s an extract of Boswellia serrata. This herb is a very good anti-inflammatory, but as I’m not familiar with this brand ingredient, I can’t tell if the dose is good enough or not

– Turmeric Root 4:1 Extract (50 mg) – that’s basically 200 mg of turmeric powder. If you’re familiar with my other articles, you probably know that I consider it as the best herb for inflammation. Well, 200 mg is pretty little in my opinion, so I doubt this ingredient could do much itself

– UC-II® Standardized Cartilage (40 mg) – that’s another brand ingredient that I can’t tell much about. But according to the label, it’s some kind of collagen that can repair damaged cartilages. However, studies didn’t confirm that collagen really does that when taken in supplements. Either way, the 40 mg from these pills is the perfect dose

– White Willow Bark 5:1 (35 mg) – this is pretty much the equivalent of aspirin in a natural form. It’s a great anti-inflammatory, but I’m not sure how effective it could be in OA, where there’s no massive inflammation

– Ginger Root 4:1 Extract (35 mg) – ginger is really good for joint pain because it fights inflammation, but this dose is pretty low, in my opinion

– Pepper Spice Complex (27 mg) – it contains a combination of bioperine and Cayenne powder. The last one is an anti-inflammatory, while bioperine increases the absorption of turmeric

My Conclusion: These ingredients really confused me because they were both anti-inflammatory and cartilage helpers. What I didn’t like is that there’s no #1 substance, but rather several ones in low doses. Vitamin C is the first on the list, but I don’t think this supplement is based on it.

So I don’t really know what mark I should give this supplement, nor did I know what to expect from these ingredients.

2. Effectiveness (6 out of 10)

It was the first time I came across this combination of ingredients, so I was very curious to see whether they were effective or not. I wrote my whole experience with this product above, but I will try to summarize it here.

In the first weeks, one pill per day seemed to work for me. My arm pain started getting better from the second week. It didn’t happen overnight, but I felt like it was decreasing a bit day by day. However, I didn’t feel any improvement in my knees (here I had pretty much OA pain).

I ordered a new bottle but after a few days, it was like my pain was getting stronger again. I was still taking one pill per day at the same hour, but it seemed to have lost its potency. After a few weeks my pain was as strong as before, which was extremely weird.

Was it my body starting to get used to the pills? Would I have to increase the dose? I didn’t, because the label only recommended taking one.

Even after I took a few days break, the pills were still not working. My pain wouldn’t decrease anymore and it was like I wasn’t taking anything.

My Conclusion: So I can’t say this supplement wasn’t effective, because it did work at one point. But I believe that in my case, it’s simply not strong enough to work on the long term. And that could be available for everyone with chronic conditions maybe.

3. Adverse Effects (9 out of 10)

One of the things I liked most about this product was that I had no major problems while I was taking it. I’ve experienced a lot of nausea and diarrhea with different turmeric products, but in this case I was pretty safe.

The only problem I had was during the first week. I had a pretty annoying stomach pain at times, but it was a kind of pain I’ve never felt before. It wasn’t very intense but it was rather annoying. So it wasn’t bothering me a lot, but I felt like my stomach was burning,

I’m not sure if these pills were responsible, but I pretty much believe they were. They contain a Willow bark extract, which is very similar to aspirin. Aspiring is known to produce stomach problems, so that’s why I was thinking it could be because of the pills.

But fortunately, it went away after a few days completely. So I think my body needed some time to get used to it, because I never felt any stomach pain afterwards.

My Conclusion: So that’s the only reason why I didn’t give this product a 10 at this chapter. This side effect could bother people with older stomach problems, but overall I think it won’t be a problem for the other ones.

Is It Made For RA or OA?

Solgar’s supplement was one of the few products that really confused me. And I’m only speaking in terms of ingredients.

Is it designed for rheumatoid or for osteoarthritis? I can always tell that by the ingredients, but in this case, they were so mixed up that I had absolutely no idea.

Some of the substances inside are meant to decrease inflammation. I’m talking basically about the herbal extracts: ginger, turmeric and the other ones. But on the other hand, the standardized collagen and vitamin C would work better for rebuilding damaged cartilages and unhealthy joints.

Turmeric or herbal based products are usually for RA, while glucosamine and collagen ones are made for OA. That’s the unwritten rule I follow, because that’s what science says.

But things are really confusing when it comes to this supplement. So for what kind of arthritis should I recommend it? I personally don’t know, so I think it could be both RA and OA.

However, it doesn’t seem a very strong supplement for RA nor for OA. The doses of each herbs are pretty low, so I personally wouldn’t buy it for my RA. On the other hand, it doesn’t contain any classic ingredients except collagen, so it doesn’t seem like a great choice for OA either. That’s why I’m really confused about recommending it.

My Final Verdict – Is It Worth The Money?

Short answer: It’s definitely not a bad product, besides, it’s really cheap. But considering the ingredients inside (and their doses), I’m not very sure it’s worth buying.

I’m not saying you could find something much better for these money, but you could add some extra $5 and get a stronger supplement with higher doses.

My personal answer: I won’t be buying this thing again in the near future, because I bought it twice and it didn’t work. It’s pretty affordable for the money, but that doesn’t mean it’s a good deal. For me it wasn’t. Though it worked quite well at the beginning, it started losing its potency after a while.

I personally believe that this ingredient combination is really good, but it’s too weak for chronic pain. So that’s the reason I don’t recommend this supplement for people with arthritis or any type of chronic condition.

I think there’s a much better choice, judging after the results I’ve seen on myself. Though it cost me some extra $5, I think the relief is worth it.