Rheumatoid arthritis, abbreviated as RA, is an inflammatory disease that affects your joints. Your body essentially attacks itself, making your joints inflamed, stiff and painful. Exercise and medications can control symptoms of RA. Natural approaches to pain management and controlling inflammation levels in your body may be explored, under the supervision of your doctor, through diet and nutrition.
Risk of Deficiencies
People who have rheumatoid arthritis could be at risk for nutritional deficiencies, according to the Johns Hopkins Arthritis Center. One cause of malnutrition can be the loss of fine motor function that you can experience due to the swelling, pain and stiffness in your joints. If you can't use your hands well due to symptoms of RA, meal preparation can be difficult and you might not be getting the nutrients you require. Wasting through weight loss and muscle atrophy, a condition called cachexia, can also play a role in vitamin and mineral deficiencies due to a reduction in physical activity. Discuss your nutrition and dietary needs with your medical care provider, as well as your limitations in the kitchen, to get the nutrition and services you need.
Elimination Diet
Food sensitivities could be making your rheumatoid arthritis worse, but you can treat your symptoms through an elimination diet. An elimination diet is an eating plan in which you take notes about your symptoms: when you feel the most joint pain and what you have eaten during the day. After reviewing your notes with your doctor, you eliminate a particular food or food group, like dairy or artificial sweeteners, that you think could be causing an increase in symptoms. You will take notes about how you feel once you have cut out the specific food and work from there. If you feel better when you are not eating dairy, you might conclude that you have a sensitivity to dairy. Restricting your diet to exclude dairy products can be a dietary treatment for your arthritis symptoms.
Red Meat Consumption
A main marker for rheumatoid arthritis is inflammation, not only in the joints, but measured elsewhere in the body as well. Cutting back on your red meat consumption and replacing this protein source with pork, chicken, fish, turkey, eggs and beans could lessen your discomfort. The United Kingdom's University of Manchester reported in 2004 that people who eat red meat regularly have a 40 percent higher risk of showing signs of rheumatoid arthritis. The researchers explained that eating more than 58g of red meat daily increases inflammation in the body and admit that cutting out beef will not necessarily mean you won't develop RA, but the likelihood is smaller.
Reduce Complications Through Diet
Eating well to reduce your RA symptoms is certainly beneficial to your body, but there are other health problems linked to the disease that you also need to plan for. The National Anemia Action Council reports that up to 60 percent of people who have rheumatoid arthritis also have anemia. The tissues in your body that are inflamed secrete proteins that affect the way your body processes iron and produces hemoglobin. Boosting your iron intake can help protect against RA-related anemia, which can be challenging if you are already restricting red meat in your diet. Iron can also be found in poultry, dark leafy green vegetables, enriched breakfast cereals, nuts and dried fruits. Osteoporosis is another disease that can be associated with rheumatoid arthritis and can be fought through diet. Medications that you take to reduce inflammation can lead to bone density loss, which makes your bones more fragile. Getting enough calcium and vitamin D through dairy products, citrus fruits and leafy greens can help counter the effects of bone mass loss.
References
- CBS News: Red Meat and Arthritis Linked
- Johns Hopkins Arthritis Center: Role of Nutrition in Rheumatoid Arthritis
- National Anemia Action Council: Anemia and Rheumatoid Arthritis
- National Anemia Action Council: Anemia and Nutrition: The Importance of Iron
- Medical News Today: Red Meat Doubles Rheumatoid Arthritis Risk
- NIAMS: What People With Rheumatoid Arthritis Need to Know About Osteoporosis
