Limbrel: A New Weapon Against Arthritis

Will it Relieve Pain and Inflammation Without Side Effects?

A new "medical food" recently hit the market as a treatment for osteoarthritis. It's Limbrel, manufactured by Primus Pharmaceuticals, and it allegedly offers pain relief in a different and safer way than standard arthritis drugs.

"Medical foods" like Limbrel are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration and are available only by prescription. They differ from standard drugs in that they are made up of ingredients "generally recognized as safe" according to FDA terminology. Because of this, they don't have to go through the long process of testing and approval required of other prescriptions. The makers of medical foods do have to show that they are an effective treatment for a specific condition.

So just what type of foods ingredients are in Limbrel? According to the maker, Limbrel contains highly concentrated and refined natural flavonoids similar to those found in green tea, cocoa, cauliflower, kale, red wine, soy and peanuts. It would be impossible to simply eat enough of the foods containing the beneficial flavonoids to get the concentration found in Limbrel. Not to imply that the drug company processes all those foods in manufacturing Limbrel; the actual sources of the flavonoids are root and bark extracts of the plants Scutellaria baicalensis and Acacia catechu. Scutellaria is also know as Baikal scullcap and serves in Chinese herbalism to effectively treat a wide range of conditions. Acacia is utilized around the world in herbal medicine as an anti-inflammatory. The patented blend of flavonoids that goes into Limbrel is called flavocoxid.

Dr. Jonathan Cluett, About.com's orthopedics guide states, "The flavonoid extracts found in Limbrel appear to have anti-inflammatory properties by inhibiting enzymes that cause inflammation. These enzymes, called COX (cyclooxygenase) and LOX (lipooxygenase) create molecules that cause inflammation and pain."¹ Limbrel affects the metabolic processes that cause arthritic damage.