Q. I’m interested in the sesame seed treatment you wrote about for sore, stiff knees. Why list the quantity in grams? I don’t know how to convert grams to ounces or pounds. How do we grind the seeds and how should we consume them?
A. You and many others were intrigued by the research published in the International Journal of Rheumatic Diseases (Oct., 2013). In this study, some people with joint pain were assigned to take acetaminophen (2 grams/day) and glucosamine (500 mg/day) while the others got 40 grams of ground sesame seeds in addition to the medications. There are 28 grams in an ounce, approximately, so this dose is more than one ounce but less than two.
40 grams come to approximately 4 tablespoons of sesame seeds that could be added to your evening meal as is or ground up in a blender or coffee grinder, stirred into a liquid and consumed that way. Some readers have purchased tahini in the grocery and are taking their sesame seed in that form. 40 grams of tahini (sesame seed paste) take up 1 1/2 tablespoons.
We have seen only one study on sesame for joint pain and would like to see a confirmatory study. In the meantime, we are interested in your experience. If you try this remedy, please tell us how well it works –or not– in the comments below.
