by JENNY HOPE, Daily Mail

Glucosamine - a popular dietary supplement that seems to prevent the wear and tear of ageing joints - may also help people to grow taller.

New research suggests glucosamine sulphate, a naturally occurring building block for cartilage, can prevent shrinkage of the spine.

Top athletes have used glucosamine for years - and latest research shows the overthecounter supplement appears to protect cartilage tissue in the spine to the extent that it leads to an increase in height.

Glucosamine sulphate is believed to recondition cartilage tissue, rather than just counter the pain caused when joints naturally suffer osteoarthritis with increasing age.

Dr Peter McCarthy, from the Welsh Institute of Chiropractic at Glamorgan University, who carried out the study, said people taking glucosamine for four weeks grew taller.

It is thought glucosamine improves water retention in the discs, which is likely to reduce wear and tear on the vertebrae. As we age, we lose the ability to manufacture sufficient levels of glucosamine.

Dr McCarthy said: 'It's the first time research has shown that glucosamine, a nutritional supplement, can lead to an increase in height. We believe it has a direct effect on spinal joint tissues by preventing water loss from the cartilage in the discs.'

Glucosamine helps form new connective molecules that make vital links between cells and tissue, especially in cartilage.

The supplement is an amino acid made from combining sugar and glutamine. It is combined with sulphur to form glucosamine sulphate.

The new study involved 36 volunteers, half of whom took 1500mg of glucosamine sulphate daily. The remainder took a placebo pill manufactured to look the same.

After four weeks, two independent

examiners found a slight increase in height among those taking the supplement.

There was no significant difference among those taking the placebo pill, says a report in the European Journal of Chiropractic 2002.

Dr McCarthy said: 'The increase was not huge - it was between two and four millimetres - but this is a significant finding-Osteoarthritis affects an enormous number of people.

'Glucosamine could be helping to reverse the pressures caused by standing upright. It could also be regulating the production of cartilage components. Supplemenation may either increase the total body height of the average person or reduce the amount of normal spinal shrinkage during the day.'

Thousands of people regularly use the supplement, which was introduced to Britain by David Wilkie, the former Olympic gold medal swimmer and managing director of Health Perception, which manufactures an oral supplement and a gel formula which can be rubbed into a painful joint.

Wilkie discovered glucosamine while training in the U.S. and has used it for more than 20 years.

Glucosamine is the preferred treatment for arthritis in Spain, Portugal and Italy.

Research in The Lancet medical journal last year found that the supplement halted the progression-of osteoarthritis in the knees of patients taking it daily for three years.

England rugby star Lawrence Dallaglio has taken glucosamine for years and believes it contributed to his comeback after injury. He said: 'It works for me, but it's good to see research which actually proves it's having a beneficial effect.'