Benefits
Joint comfort
In a Bioiberica-funded trial of 606 adults with painful knee osteoarthritis, a chondroitin plus glucosamine product taken for 6 months cut knee pain scores by about half and eased joint swelling. The comparison group took a prescription pain reliever rather than a placebo, so the trial cannot show how much of the change came from the supplement. Acti-Joint itself has not been tested.
Knee pain response by pain severity
In a government-funded trial of 1,583 adults with knee osteoarthritis, glucosamine, chondroitin or both for 24 weeks were not significantly better than placebo at cutting knee pain by 20%. In an exploratory look at the 354 people with moderate to severe pain, 79% responded to the combination versus 54% on placebo; that subgroup result has not been confirmed.
Knee muscle strength (rooster comb extract)
In a placebo-controlled trial, 80 adults with mild knee pain ate yoghurt with 80 mg a day of a hyaluronic-acid-rich rooster comb extract, the same type of ingredient as Mobilee, for 12 weeks. Knee muscle strength and power rose by at least 11% in men versus placebo, with no difference in women. No cited study measured joint fluid or lubrication.
Mechanism of action
Cartilage components
Glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate are proposed to support cartilage, but the trials cited on this page measured pain, stiffness, function and swelling, not cartilage structure, so any effect on cartilage itself has not been shown for this formula.
Hyaluronic acid source
Mobilee is a rooster comb extract that the maker says is more than 60% hyaluronic acid, with polysaccharides and collagen. How swallowed hyaluronic acid would reach the joints has not been shown in the studies cited here.
Clinical trials
Randomized, double-blind, non-inferiority trial in France, Germany, Poland and Spain: 400 mg chondroitin sulfate plus 500 mg glucosamine hydrochloride three times a day versus celecoxib 200 mg a day for 6 months, with no placebo group; funded by Bioiberica, which supplied the product (Hochberg et al. 2016, Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases)
606 adults with grade 2 to 3 knee osteoarthritis and moderate to severe pain.
Knee pain scores (WOMAC) fell by about 50% in both groups, meeting the trial's non-inferiority margin, and joint swelling fell by more than half in both. Side effects were low and similar. Without a placebo arm, the supplement's own effect cannot be sized. This tested Bioiberica's two-ingredient product, not Acti-Joint.
Multicenter, double-blind trial: 1,500 mg glucosamine, 1,200 mg chondroitin sulfate, both, celecoxib 200 mg, or placebo daily for 24 weeks (Clegg et al. 2006, New England Journal of Medicine)
1,583 adults with symptomatic knee osteoarthritis (mean age 59, 64% women).
The main result was negative: neither ingredient alone nor the combination was significantly better than placebo at producing a 20% drop in knee pain (combination response 6.5 points above placebo's 60.1%, P = 0.09). In an exploratory subgroup of 354 people with moderate to severe pain, 79.2% responded to the combination versus 54.3% on placebo. Side effects were mild and similar across groups.
Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial: low-fat yoghurt with 80 mg a day of hyaluronic-acid-rich rooster comb extract or plain yoghurt for 12 weeks (Solà et al. 2015, Food and Function)
80 adults with mild knee pain.
Peak torque, total work and mean power of the affected knee rose by at least 11% in men versus control, with no difference in women. The trial measured muscle function, not pain or joint fluid, and the abstract does not name the extract brand.