More than 20 thousand people are annually diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in the UK alone, Arthritis Research UK reports. RA can cause chronic pain, disability and depression. If you have RA, talk to your physician about treatment options tailored to you. Additionally, you may consider a special diet for rheumatoid arthritis.
Gluten-Free Vegan Diet
A vegan diet is a plant-based diet that forbids or strictly limits the consumption of foods derived from animals. In addition to meat, vegan diets don't include foods like eggs and yogurt. Switching to a vegan diet may alleviate RA symptoms in as little as one month, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine reports. Cutting out gluten may help you get over RA, reports L Hafström of Karolinska Institutet at Huddinge University Hospital. In a paper published in the May 2001 issue of "Rheumatology," Hafström found that subjects that went vegan and eliminated all gluten from their diets improved pain symptoms in 40 percent of the volunteers.
Elimination Diet
The Arthritis Foundation reports that allergies to foods like cow's milk, grain and corn products and eggs are partly responsible for certain cases of RA. Eliminating common "trigger foods" from your diet may greatly improve pain related to RA. To follow an elimination diet, eat only fruits, veggies, fish and meat for 30 days. Then, introduce foods, one at a time, back into your diet --noting which influence your RA. If a certain food makes your joints ache, it may be a trigger food.
Mediterranean Diet
The Mediterranean diet is based on the typical eating patterns in countries around the Mediterranean sea, like Spain and Greece. It tends to contain high amounts of fish, nuts, whole grains and vegetables. This diet also limits the consumption of red meat, sweets and processed food. Kalmar County Hospital's L. Skoldstam found that people with RA who started on a Mediterranean diet felt less pain and enjoyed improved levels of physical function.
Vegan and Very Low-Fat Diet
Strictly limiting dietary fat may improve RA pain levels, reports John McDougall of St. Helena Hospital. In a paper published in the February 2002 issue of the "Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine," McDougall discovered that RA patients who followed a vegan diet in which dietary fat contributed less than 10 percent of calories experienced reduced inflammation and RA-related pain.
References
- Arthritis Research UK: Arthritis in the UK -- key facts
- "Rheumatology": A vegan diet free of gluten improves the signs and symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis: the effects on arthritis correlate with a reduction in antibodies to food antigens
- Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine: Foods and Arthritis
- "The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine": Effects of a Very Low-Fat, Vegan Diet in Subjects with Rheumatoid Arthritis
- "Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases": An experimental study of a Mediterranean diet intervention for patients with rheumatoid arthritis
- Arthritis Foundation: Rheumatoid Arthritis Diet: RA and Food Allergies
