SAMe FAQ's
What is SAMe?
SAMe (S-adenosylmethionine) is a naturally occurring compound found in all human tissue and organs. It is a “building block” necessary for the production of many compounds produced by your body, and is used in over 35 different biochemical reactions. SAMe actually donates a part of itself to form these new compounds through a process called methylation or transmethylation. SAME is one of the few dietary supplements on the market today that combines the benefits of several nutrients into one, because the body uses the substances produced from SAMe for numerous bodily reactions and processes.
Are there any side effects associated with SAMe supplementation?
SAMe is a very safe dietary supplement. Minor side effects include nausea and gastrointestinal irritation, due to its sulfur content. These were only noted at very high doses (1200-1600mg) and symptoms diminished with continued use. Persons suffering from manic depression (bipolar disorder) should not take SAMe without prior consultation with their physician. If you experience any of the symptoms above for an extended period of time, you may be allergic to SAMe, or it may not be the right supplement for you.
Why is the dosage information with SAMe supplements so confusing?
SAMe in its ion form as found in human cells has a very short life span and is rapidly metabolized into other necessary compounds as needed, which is good! However, this natural form does not lend itself to the production of a stable and effective dietary supplement. It took scientists years to come up with a way to stabilize SAMe so it could be manufactured as a dietary supplement. It was finally discovered that SAMe must be manufactured in a salt form to prevent rapid degradation. In its salt form, you will actually get 200mg of SAMe in its stable salt form. However, only half of this 200mg is actually raw SAMe ions, hence its yield of 100mg.
Are there size or color variations with your SAMe products, and should SAMe be refrigerated?
Because of the nature of SAMe, NOW® takes special precautions when packaging this product. We bottle SAMe in amber glass bottles to keep light exposure to a minimum, and keep SAMe products refrigerated in our plant until shipping. It is not necessary to keep SAMe refrigerated after purchase, but it can extend the shelf life of the product.
Because SAMe is a natural product, there can be variations in color, usually ranging from white to pale yellow or tan. This is normal and does not mean the product is expired. You may also notice a difference in tablet size. We recently reformulated our SAMe to include less excipients, so there are two different tablet sizes on the market at this time.
Clinical Trial Supports Efficacy of NOW® SAMe for OA of the Knee
At NOW® Foods we take an active role in reassuring the public that dietary supplements are safe and effective when used as recommended. We pursue this ongoing goal through several different avenues, one of which is supplying researchers with top quality dietary supplements for use in clinical trials. NOW® Foods is proud to support clinical research into the efficacy of dietary supplements and we are confident that science will continue to prove the safety and effectiveness of natural dietary supplements as viable alternatives to synthetic prescription medications and their side effects.
NOW® Foods recently supplied researchers at the University of California–Irvine with our high grade SAMe (S-adenosylmethionine) product for a study into the effectiveness of this natural nutritional supplement for pain associated with osteoarthritis (OA). The study, entitled “Effectiveness of SAMe for Pain Relief in Osteoarthritis of the Knee”, compared the therapeutic efficacy of SAMe to the pharmaceutical Celebrex (a COX2 inhibitor) in adults with OA of the knee.
Osteoarthritis of the knee is a major disability among the aging American population and is more common than OA in other peripheral joints. Patients report that control of the pain and improved mobility is of greatest importance to them. Many of the prescription pharmaceuticals available today for the treatment of OA are non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) that can have serious side effects, especially if used long term. As more people are afflicted with OA of the knee, demand will increase for new ways to relieve the pain and stiffness of OA with as few negative side effects as possible. SAMe is one of the more promising natural alternatives available.
SAMe is a naturally occurring compound found in all human tissue and organs. It is produced when methionine, an essential amino acid derived from food sources, and ATP (adenosine triphosphate), the body’s primary energy molecule, are combined. Once created, SAMe is available for use by your body in over 35 different biochemical reactions necessary for optimal health. SAMe is considered a methyl donor. Its purpose is to attach a methyl group (a unit of organic chemical compounds) to other key elements in your body, such as DNA, to create more complex compounds. Your body then uses these new compounds for numerous purposes, including detoxification. This process, known as methylation or transmethylation, is vital to your body’s maintenance. SAMe may be the most effective of all methyl donors.
The study was a randomized, double-blind cross over trial with 61 participants (5 withdrew for various reasons) and was conducted at the Clinical Research Center at the University of California Irvine Medical Center. There was a one-week washout period to clear any anti-inflammatory medicine from the participant’s systems before they were given 600 milligrams of SAMe twice daily for eight weeks. After another one-week washout of SAMe, participants were then given 100 milligrams of Celebrex twice daily for eight weeks.
Researchers concluded that, over the two-month testing period, SAMe was as effective in reducing pain as Celebrex. It was noted that at the beginning of Celebrex treatment pain was immediately reduced but gradually began to increase, whereas SAMe did not reduce pain as quickly as Celebrex but continued to show pain reduction over the two-month treatment period. Functional health, defined as improved mobility and the ability to function without pain, was observed to improve equally with both SAMe and Celebrex.
Due to the success of this study, researchers are planning to conduct a larger-scale, multi-year study on SAMe funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). This new study would enlist a greater number of participants and would evaluate at which dosage range SAMe is most effective, among other goals. |
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